University of California • Berkeley
University of California
Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
AUGUST VOLLMER: PIONEER IN POLICE PROFESSIONALISM
John Holstrom
O.W. Wilson
Milton Chernin
General William Dean
Rose Glavinovich
Gene Woods
Al Coffey
George Brereton
Thomas Hunter
Willard Schmidt
Muriel Hunter
Alfred Parker
Vollmer as a Man: Memories of a
Close Friend and Colleague
Training by Correspondence: Vollmer 's
Influence on Orlando Wilson, Berkeley's
Most Famous "College Cop"
The University Years: Vollmer as a
Professor
Vollmer 's Influence on the Career of
An Army General
Covering the Berkeley Police Depart
ment: August Vollmer and the Press
August Vollmer: His Community and His
Staff
August Vollmer: A Man of Principle
and Action
Looking Back: Ex-Director of the
California Department of Justice
Remembers His Years as a Patrolman
Under August Vollmer
The "V" Men, Vollmer 's Dedicated
Proteges
Enforcing Prohibition: August Vollmer,/
Earl Warren, and Willard Schmidt
August Vollmer 's Secretary Talks about
Her Boss
Vollmer1 s Biographer Discusses His
Subject
Interviews Conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
(c\ 1972 by The Regents of The University of California
August Vollmer in home study
1950
August Vollmer, shortly after retirement, 1932
Berkeley Police Department
This manuscript is open for research purposes.
All literary rights in the manuscript, including the
right to publish, are reserved to the Bancroft Library
of the University of California at Berkeley. No part
of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without
the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft
Library of the University of California at Berkeley.
Requests for permission to quote for publication
should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office,
U86 Library, and should include identification of the
specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the
passages, and identification of the user.
PREFACE
The August Vollmer Historical Project was initiated in the Spring of
1971, while I was doing research on the development of police professional
ism in the United States in connection with a doctoral dissertation for
the School of Criminology, University of California at Berkeley. My dis
cussions with police leaders such as John Holstrom (Berkeley Police Chief
from 19^^-1960, later lecturer in the School of Criminology) and
Bruce Baker (present Berkeley Police Chief) led me to recognize the strong
impact that August Vollmer had had in shaping modern law enforcement during
his years as Berkeley police chief (1905 to 1932) and later as a writer and
educator in police administration. The generation of Berkeley police
leaders following Vollmer had vivid memories of the years of innovation and
development during which they worked with him, and they communicated to me
their strong feeling that some record of Vollmer 's influence should be made
by those who had worked closely with him.
At this time my research was being funded by a fellowship from the Law
Enforcement Assistance Administration. From these funds I set aside about
$1,000 as an initial budget for a historical project on Vollmer. The
project was developed in conjunction with the Bancroft Library, University
of California, and consisted of two main aspects: First, collecting and cata
loguing materials on Vollmer 's life and career that were dispersed in
various places. Most of Vollmer 's private papers had been left to the
Bancroft Library upon his death in 1955, but had never been catalogued. A
considerable amount of material was also located in the files of the
Berkeley Police Department , which I proposed to have transferred to the
Bancroft Library where it could be catalogued and assimilated with the other
materials. Additional papers, letters and photographs were in the posses
sion of former associates of Vollmer.
Second, we planned to conduct a series of oral interviews with former
colleagues and friends of Vollmer's, who could give their impressions of
Vollmer as a man and as a police leader, and could supply information on
the specific aspects of his career with which they were most closely con
nected. Because Vollmer had such a strong personal influence on other police
leaders, I felt that these interviews, conducted under the supervision of
the Regional Oral History Office of the Bancroft Library, would lend depth
to future biographies of Vollmer and future studies of the period and
profession.
It was soon evident that available funds and staff would be inadequate
for this ambitious Job. The first objective, collecting and cataloguing the
Vollmer papers, was limited to a modest effort, in the expectation that the
Bancroft Library would be able to supply the staff to complete the Job over
a longer period of time. We decided to concentrate our present funds upon
conducting the oral interviews, and received generous support from several
ii
people. Mrs. Willa Baum, Head of the Regional Oral History Office, agreed
to provide technical assistance and guidance for the project. Since I
would be leaving Berkeley in July, 1971, to take a position on the faculty
of Trenton State College, Nev Jersey, Mr. Holstrom agreed to supervise the
project following my departure. He also provided invaluable advice about
the design of. the project and the selection of persons to be interviewed.
Dean Sheldon Messinger of the School of Criminology volunteered the
School's clerical support for transcribing, typing and correcting the manu
script interviews. Finally, I was able to recruit Jane Howard Robinson, a
fellow graduate student with whom I had been associated in a professional
program in India, to become Project Director and serve as the project's only
paid staff member. Mrs. Robinson assumed the responsibility for conducting
the interviews and coordinating their typing, editing, proofreading, and
final preparation for binding.
PROCEDURE
Our first concern was to determine who should be interviewed, and how
Jane Robinson, as interviewer, could best encourage interview subjects to
talk fully and openly about their work and friendship with August Vollmer.
I drew up a list of potential subjects who could provide a meaningful per
spective on Vollmer as a man and a police professional. Mr. Holstrom
developed a comprehensive list of sources of information about Vollmer, in
cluding retired and former members of the Berkeley Police Department and
other friends of Vollmer. From these sources we developed a list of inter
view subjects for Mrs. Robinson to contact.
We developed an open-ended questionnaire to serve as a guide for the
interviews, after consultation with Mr. Holstrom, the Bancroft Library
Regional Oral History Office, and Alfred Parker, co-author with Vollmer of
two books on policing and author of an informal biography of him.* The
questionnaire (see Appendix A), containing only seven questions or topics,
was used as a tool to encourage free discussion, not to direct or contain it.
The questionnaire was revised slightly about midway through the project,
since Mrs. Robinson found that a rearrangement of topics led to a smoother
flow of conversation during interviews. (See Appendix B for copy. )
Concurrent with this project, the Regional Oral History Office was in
volved in an extensive oral history of Earl Warren. August Vollmer 's term
as chief of the Berkeley Police Department overlapped Warren's term as
District Attorney of Alameda County, and on many occasions throughout the
years the two men worked together. Mrs. Amelia Fry, Director of the Warren
project, worked with Mrs. Robinson and me to develop some general questions
that were asked to Voller interview subjects concerning Vollmer's
relation with Warren. Specific topics were outlined for the interview with
•Alfred E. Parker, Crime Fighter: August Vollmer (New York: Macmillan, 196l),
ill
Willard Schmidt, as he had worked very closely with Warren in enforcing
Prohibition laws in Emeryville.
Interview subjects were contacted by telephone or mail by either
Mr. Holstrom or Mrs. Robinson. When Holstrom made the contact, Mrs. Robinson
called or wrote to confirm.
The interviews were conducted informally. If subjects asked what
preparation they should make for the interview, Mrs. Robinson stressed that
the session would be informal, and that they should simply talk about what
Vollmer was like, and how they remembered him. If they felt a strong need
for written guidance, the questions were sent to them. All efforts were
directed toward producing relaxed, informal interviews that would show
Vollmer as an individual.
Thirteen interviews were conducted. One was inadvertently erased, and
a repeat interview was not possible. The final volume contains twelve inter
views. (See Appendix C for a list of subjects and interview dates. )
The interview tapes were transcribed by the School of Criminology
secretarial staff under the direction of Mrs. Linda Peachee. Mrs. Robinson
corrected the tapes for typing errors and forwarded them to the subjects
for changes, deletions, additions, and corrections. The corrected and
revised tapes were returned to Mrs. Robinson and forwarded by her to the
School of Criminology for final typing. They were then proofed, corrected,
given a final reading, and forwarded to the Regional Oral History Office for
indexing, copying, and binding.
Taping, travel costs, coordination of processing and preparing the
interview volume consumed the entire August Vollmer Historical Project budget,
as was anticipated shortly after the project was conceived and designed.
Fortunately, the other aspect of the original project design — cataloging
Vollmer 's personal papers and transferring the Berkeley Police Department
papers to the Bancroft Library — did find support in the Bancroft Library.
As of June 1972, cataloging of Vollmer 's personal papers was almost complete.
Discussions between the Berkeley Police Department and the Bancroft Library
had led to the transfer of papers on the Vollmer era from the department to
the library, with cataloging of the papers to begin after completion of the
cataloging of personal files.
In the course of this project and independent work on the career of
August Vollmer, my own dissertation research came to center almost entirely
upon Vollmer1 s role in the early development of police professionalism. The
dissertation is in the final stages of writing, under the title "August
Vollmer and the Origins of Police Professionalism," and will be formally
completed by the Fall of 1972. The Earl Warren history, mentioned above,
also contains much relevant material on this period of policing and social
change. It is my hope that, when the Vollmer papers are cataloged and
made available to other scholars, further research will be conducted into
this important era in the history of American policing.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have been involved in making the oral interview project
possible. I would like to thank John Holstrom for his continuous advice
and support, and for his cooperation in contacting many of his colleagues
to arrange for interviews. It would have been very difficult to win the
cooperation of many of the subjects without Mr. Holstrom1 s support. He
also provided the highly useful list of interview subjects and other Vollmer
associates, which will remain on file in the Regional Oral History Office
in Bancroft Library, to use as a guide should funds become available for
further research.
Within the School of Criminology, Dean Sheldon Hessinger deserves
recognition both for the initial encouragement and advice he provided to
us and for the many hours of secretarial support he made available.
Ann Goolsby, his assistant, managed the funds for the project. Linda Peachee
coordinated the transcribing, typing, and correcting of all interviews at
the School of Criminology. She and other secretarial staff members pro
vided many hours of cheerful service, despite the fact that this work was
not in any way a part of their regular duties.
I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable technical assistance
and support that made the production of a formal volume possible.
Mrs. Willa Baum provided extensive advice on all aspects of the project,
and supervised the final production of the volume of interviews.
Mrs. Amelia Pry provided questions to the interviewer that helped to estab
lish the link between the careers of August Vollmer and Earl Warren.
The Berkeley Police Department under the leadership of Chief Bruce Baker
also provided the project with important support. They made all personnel
records available to Mr. Holstrom to assist in the development of the list
of interview sources, and provided space for the interview with Mr. Schmidt.
I am also grateful for the financial support that was possible through
the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, in the form of a fellowship
that has enabled me to pursue my research in the history of American policing.
These funds were sufficient to permit us to produce this volume of interviews,
and to provide a beginning for future research that may be possible in this
area.
The primary credit for the success of this venture, however, belongs to
Jane Howard Robinson, who provided the only link between all the individuals
and departments involved. Her skill in coordinating all aspects of the
project, from interviews to financing and typing, has prevented the project
from languishing for want of direction. She has used her good Judgment in
interviewing and editing to ensure a rich level of interview material, and
has coped patiently with the difficulties of administering a project that
often involved people living at considerable distance from Berkeley.
We are pleased to have gathered these interviews together, and
hope that they will stimulate further research on August Vollner and his
times.
Gene Carte
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Criminal Justice
Trenton State College, New Jersey
June 1972
C«ir*t Id •icracorr '» MrkeUy FolU. fckool . l»l». L.ft to rlfht: Auau't Voll«.r. ».».J. Wood., Capl.ln.
Ox«r futtk.r. 5.rg.*m C.D. L.«. C-.oc.lo: Walter Jotw..m. C.pl.ln. Fruk lD§.r»oll. ti*«rlat*id»t
y roc* coo , « ...
... c-.pc.ln. Waller JohB.ofi, Captain; rr««k laaarootl, li**rlat**d»t
4 In,: Dr. *lb.rt lchM|d.r.
c TolUar »Uh Cklaf of J<mlor Traffic F.-lu.. 1M*.
vi
INTRODUCTION
The image of professional policing as ve know it today is largely
the creation of one man, August Vollmer, who was police chief of Berkeley,
California, from 1905 to 1932. Vollmer was a tireless crusader for the
reform of policing through technology and higher personnel standards.
Under his direction the Berkeley department became a model of professional
policing — efficient, honest, scientific. He introduced into Berkeley a
patrol-wide police signal system, the first completely mobile patrol —
first on bicycles, then in squad cars — modern records systems, beat
analysis and modus operand i . The first scientific crime laboratory in the
United States was set up in Berkeley in 19l6, under the direction of a full-
time forensic scientist. The first lie detector machine to be used in
criminal investigation was built in the Berkeley department in 1921.
Vollmer 's department was best known for the caliber of its personnel.
He introduced formal police training in 1908, later encouraging his men to
attend classes in police administration that were taught each summer at
the University of California. Eventually he introduced psychological and
intelligence testing into the recruitment process and actively recruited
college students from the University, starting around 1919. This was the
beginning of Berkeley's "college cops," who set the tone for the department
throughout the 1920s and 30s and came to be accepted by police leaders as
the ultimate model of efficient, modern policing.
Nationally, Vollmer worked through such forums as the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, serving as President in 1922. He served
as a police consultant in cities like Kansas City, Missouri (1929), and
he directed the police study for the 1931 National Commission on Law Ob
servance and Enforcement, better known as the Wickersham Report. He con
demned the corruption and ineffectiveness that prevailed in most American
police departments and urged professionalization of the police function,
removal of political influence from routine police operations, and the
adoption of modern technological methods.
Vollmer's concept of professionalism has dominated police literature
since he articulated it, and remains relatively unquestioned today. We
need to explore the origins of this concept, the historical realities
within which it developed, and the police department that served as its
model.
James Q. Wilson has characterized Vollmer's professional police de
partment as one that emphasized "efficiency, law enforcement, aggressive
street patrol, and honesty." Traditional policing in the period when
Vollmer was active was the victim of political meddling and inept leader
ship, and the traditional policeman was haphazardly selected and poorly
trained. The ideal professional policeman, on the other hand, is honest,
vii
skilled, and impartial in the face of competing political demands that are
made upon him. He is trained in the technology of policing, especially in
criminal identification, evidence gathering and investigation. He avoids
the overtly coercive aspects of policing whenever possible, aiming instead
for the prevention of crime or confrontation through his appreciation of
the psychology and sociology of crime and criminals.
August Vollmer was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1876. His only
formal education beyond the grade school level was a vocational course in
bookkeeping, typing and shorthand that he took at the New Orleans Academy.
His family moved to Berkeley, California in 1891 when Vollmer was 15. Three
years later he opened a coal and feed store with a friend and was active in
the formation of a volunteer fire department. He enlisted in the army when
the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 and was sent for a year to the
Philippines, where the U.S. Army was engaged in warfare with indigenous
Filipino groups following the expulsion of the Spanish. Vollmer took part
in river patrols and participated in 25 engagements with the enemy. He
came to admire the organizational skills of the professional army corps,
and frequently referred to his army experience in later years when discuss
ing the strategy of police operations. After returning home, he worked as
a letter carrier in Berkeley for four years until he was approached to run
for town marshal.
Police scholar Bruce Smith has referred to the position of marshal as
"not primarily devised for what we now know as police work."1* In Berkeley,
the marshal was a political functionary who ran for election every two
years and was responsible for a loosely organized body of services. Law
enforcement had been lax in the past, and Berkeley had acquired a reputation
for having poor police protection. Gambling and opium dens operated with
little interference from the authorities, and criminals from San Francisco
and Oakland found the town an easy target. It was these conditions that
prompted several leading citizens to sponsor Vollmer for the Job. His
backers included Friend Richardson, editor of the daily newspaper and later
governor of California from 1922-26; and George Schmidt, Postmaster, both
important members of the Republican Party. Vollmer campaigned hard and
won election by a margin of three to one.
Vollmer entered policing during the Progressive era, in a town that
was known for its reform-minded citizens. ^ At that time Berkeley was a
town of 20,000 persons, many of whom earned their living in San Francisco or
Oakland but were alarmed by the corruption and lawlessness that prevailed
there. Only fifty years before, San Francisco justice had been dominated by
vigilante committees, the most organized and powerful in American history.
The current police forces both there and in Oakland had reputations for
corruption and inefficiency.
Berkeley was an ideal setting for the introduction of an honest, effi
cient, technological police force. It was a sma.11 city dominated by middle-
class business, professional and academic groups who supported municipal
reform. Vollmer was able to provide the aggressive leadership in policing
viii
that the community wanted. As one associate has described it, Vollmer
"pushed crime north and south, "7 creating a haven of honest policing.
At one time Berkeley had the lowest crime rate of any city in its class,
along with the lowest per capita police costs."
History also intervened, when the San Francisco earthquake and fire
in 1906 overnight doubled Berkeley's population and began a boom period
of economic development , spurred by businesses that deserted San Francisco
for the East Bay. Vollmer turned his department from a town patrol into an
urban police force in a few short months, and the community was willing
and financially able to support bond issues to pay for his innovations.
Scholarswill date professional policing from Vollmer *s decision that
the police officer needed significantly special skills to do his Job,
skills that could not be learned on the beat by a recruit who was indiffer
ent to the "higher purposes" of policing. He was awed by the amount of
technical information that could be used in crime investigation, an aware
ness that he developed from his contact with professors at the University
and his own program of self education. Any new technology, whether two-way
radios or computers, required the retraining of existing line operations,
and suggested that the occupation may have been significantly changed by
the introduction of the new techniques. Old-style policing had been so
inefficient and uninspired that there seemed to be a radical difference
between a political functionary who walked a beat and Vollmer 's image of a
trained professional who attacks crime with an armory of technical aids.
It was natural for Vollmer and his advisers in the University faculty to
overestimate the technical and intellectual skills that the new policeman
would be required to have. He developed an almost visionary concept of
the kind of individual who should be a professional policeman:
My fancy pictures to me a new profession in which
the very best manhood in our nation will be happy
to serve in the future. Why should not the cream
of the nation be perfectly willing to devote their
lives to the cause of service providing that service
is dignified, socialized and professionalized.
Surely the Army offers no such opportunity for con
tributing to the welfare of the nation and yet men
unhesitatingly spend their lives preparing for army
service. 9
What we see from the interviews below is that Vollmer was able to transmit
that vision to many others.
From this enthusiasm emerged the finest police training programs and
selection procedures in the country. In 1908 Vollmer began the Berkeley
Police School, at a time when most departments did not even have informal
training: officers were merely assigned to a beat and told to maintain "law
and order. "10 This first school, which deputy marshals attended while off
duty, had classes in police methods taught by Vollmer and an Oakland police
ix
inspector; first aid; photography; and courses in sanitation laws and
criminal evidence, taught by professors from the University. By 1930, two
years before Vollmer retired, recruits were receiving 312 hours of work
within the police school, in a curriculum that included, in addition to
technical police subjects, Criminal law and Procedure, Police Psychiatry,
Criminal Identification, and Police Organization and Administration.11
Vollmer himself taught police administration courses during summer sessions
at the University between the years 1916 and 1931, and after his retire
ment from the department was appointed a research professor in Berkeley's
political science department.
The "college cop" program began around 1919 when Vollmer placed an ad
in the campus newspaper inviting students to earn extra money by becoming
Berkeley police officers. This was a period of economic recession and
many students responded, perhaps also attracted by the challenge of passing
the intelligence tests that the department was using to screen recruits.
There is a gap between the image of the "college cop" that emerged
from Berkeley, and the actual reality in the department, for college grad
uates never did comprise a majority of the force. They did, however, domi
nate the character or image of the department, especially in those early
years. O.W. Wilson was to be the most successful of Vollmer 's college cops,
and a number of others had successful careers within the department or, more
frequently, left for leadership positions in other police agencies or police
education programs. Many college students worked in the department until
graduation, at which time they left to pursue other careers.
During the years when he developed the Berkeley department , Vollmer
was sensitive to the importance of using the press, both to maintain com
munications with reform elements in his own community, and to influence
police reform throughout the country. This was a period when the press was
a strong factor in California reform movements. 1^ For several months early
in his career, Vollmer was the subject of bitter attacks in the local paper,
because of a disagreement with the editor over police policies. Vollmer
never replied publicly to the attacks, nor did he criticize the newspaper in
an attempt to gain support. The editor respected Vollmer for his restraint
and soon initiated a reconciliation, and thereafter supported the department
strongly. i3 Vollmer later used this incident in cautioning his Junior
officers against warring with the press, and he had a keen appreciation of
the process that we now refer to as "image-building." His police /community
relations were so successful in Berkeley that the mayor described the city's
policemen in 19^0 as "among the most popular individuals in the community,
and every citizen (is) an ex officio champion of the police department...."1^
Crime news was a more important part of newspapers then than it is
today, and the Berkeley department had five or six full-time reporters as
signed to it from Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco newspapers.1' Before
a new building was built in the mid-1920s, the press shared the squad room
with working policemen, and throughout Vollmer 's term as chief he granted the
press open access to police records , so lonp as they respected the department ' s
decision not to publicize certain stories.
Vollmer was making news in the Berkeley department, and his innova
tions soon gained a nationwide audience. But he also valued more scholar
ly and professional forums than the daily newspapers, and became a pro
lific contributor, writing in support of his ideas about the upgrading of
policing through technology and personnel reform. Vollmer was well-
acquainted with the important literature in criminal law, criminology and
social science, as reflected in the curriculum of his police training
school, and had a long association with the Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology. He was the only police chief to be a member of its advisory
board during the early period. He developed ties with academic communities
outside of Berkeley, and wrote about policing in publications where re
searchers and scholars would read his ideas. No other police leader
reached such an audience, and Vollmer soon became the primary spokesman for
those who worked in policing. He acquired the important "face validity"
within the academic community of a person who could claim to be doing as
well as observing and criticizing. His critics within the police establish
ment were seen, often with Justification, as reactionaries, or merely
Jealous of the favorable national attention that Vollmer 's department
received. Working at a time when most police leaders were impatient and
resentful over what they felt was an overemphasis on the social conditions
responsible for crime, Vollmer succeeded in getting the International
Association of Chiefs of Police to pass a resolution pledging cooperation
with various national research and reform groups. lo In effect, the resolu
tion called for a redefinition of the police function to include work with
the intangibles of crime prevention.
For Vollmer, control of crime was the first role of the policeman, and
was to be accomplished by giving him better organization and techniques
than were available to the criminal elements. The other principal role of
the policeman is discussed in a 1919 article that Vollmer wrote for a
police Journal, entitled "The Policeman as a Social Worker," in which he
outlined his ideas about the importance of crime prevention, especially
with Juveniles. IT The policeman was to work as part of a social team to
identify and help children who might become social problems. During the
same year Vollmer and a Berkeley psychiatrist initiated a study in Berkeley's
Hawthorne elementary school, in conjunction with community social work and
education groups, that tested all the children in hopes of predicting future
delinquency.
This was a period — immediately following the First World War — when
crime actually was increasing at an alarming rate,1** and Vollmer 's emphasis
on crime prevention was a response, with the tools of the day, to a legiti
mate public concern. It also reflected his long-term interest in the use
of psychiatry to explain the nature of criminality. Vollmer 's book The
Criminal , written in 19^9, was the culmination of a lifetime of study in
this area and he considered it his best work.1? Although his theories of
criminality seem dated today, they had a profound effect upon his concept
of policing.
xi
The Berkeley department also served as the training ground for new
Alameda County deputy district attorneys, and it was in this connection
that Vollner came to know Earl Warren, who received his early experience
as a prosecuting attorney in Berkeley. Warren has said that Vollraer
"excited his interest in a host of problems relating to law enforcement
and the need for improvement."20 When Warren became District Attorney and
began the "gangbusting" raids against gambling that brought him fame
throughout California, he used Berkeley policemen and equipment to supple
ment his own small staff, and locked up his prisoners in the Berkeley Jail.
Vollmer's department had already developed the techniques of investigation
and photography that Warren needed to gather evidence that would hold up
in courts which were often unsympathetic. In later years, Warren and
Vollner worked together to set up police education programs in the state
colleges and to develop state law enforcement agencies. 21
It is relevant here to mention Vollmer's attitude toward the "third
degree" technique of obtaining confessions. As might be expected, he was
strongly opposed to such police methods, which were in common use at the
time and were extensively documented in the 1931 Wickersham Report.22 Al
though Vollmer opposed the third degree for many reasons, including the
violation of individual rights, the core of his objection was that third
degree techniques were the poorest method of collecting sound evidence that
would hold up in court. The ultimate result of using evidence based on
"third degree" confessions he felt , was that suspicion was cast on all
police testimony, whereas he believed that the trained professional police
man should be viewed as the most reliable and neutral witness available.
Critics of police excesses who welcomed Vollmer as a voice of enlighten
ment were right in perceiving that he agreed with their stand against the
third degree and other brutal techniques, but essentially they and Vollmer
came to this agreement from different perspectives: most of the critics were
reacting against the very fact of excessive police power; Vollmer was
reacting against its inefficiency as a tool of law enforcement.
Vollmer's enthusiasm for scientific lie detection was a natural outcome
of his stand against the third degree, and he never lost faith that new
breakthroughs would eventually correct the inadequacies that plagued the use
of the lie detector in criminal investigation. John Larson, a "college cop"
who built the first lie detector in the Berkeley department , later said that
he felt the technique had been turned into a form of "psychological third
degree," and confessed that he sometimes regretted having had a hand in its
development.2 3
Although Vollmer conducted management surveys of numerous police de
partments during his long career, he served as chief in only one other city,
Los Angeles, for a year in 1921-22- In Los Angeles he quickly recognized
that the reform elements were far too weak to sustain a Berkeley-style
department, and he concentrated his efforts on upgrading middle-management
personnel, creating a cadre of committed officers who had a long-term impact
as they rose to positions of leadership. This was typical of Vollmer's
approach to personnel management , for although he constantly stressed the
importance of training the line officer — the patrolman on the beat — , he
xii
devoted most of his own energies to training police executives. He worked
to instill within police leadership a commitment to professional ideals,
probably because he sensed that the internal pressure for reform and high
standards would have to be strong enough to counteract the competing ex
ternal political demands that he regarded as illegitimate.
August Vollmer worked for police reform throughout the first half of
this century. His ideas were promulgated through the police executives he
trained; through professional groups like the International Association of
Chiefs of Police; through scholarly Journals and societies; and through
government surveys and reports, most notably the Wickersham Report. Both
the regional and national press publicized the advanced practices of the
Berkeley Police Department, and urban crime commissions and police depart
ments requested Vollmer *s services as a consultant.
Vollmer1 s professionalism was rooted in the freedom of the police from
political interference; it stressed technical innovations in patrol, communi
cations and investigation, and required a skilled, dedicated police officer.
It also offered more for the working policeman, by emphasizing improved
wages, modern facilities, and the dignity of performing an important service.
The police field was rich ground for the application of new technical ad
vances which met the needs of Americans living in an urban environment.
Crime was increasing, institutions were being reshaped, and a better organ
ized, honest and skilled police could protect important community interests
from social turmoil.
Vollmer 's true impact can best be understood by reading through the
following interviews. His influence touched not only his "college cops,"
but also several generations of police leaders and writers in the field.
Don L. Kooken, Rollin Perkins, William A. Westley, James Q. Wilson and
A.C. Germann are among those who have acknowledged Vollmer 's importance in
establishing standards for professional policing.
Many of his innovations were based on ideas that may be traced to others,
ideas that came from his associates, from police experiences in other
countries, and from academic sources. Vollmer recognized the potential of
these ideas and unified them into a working whole, using his energy and
dedication to set a pattern for police reform that continues to this day.
Gene Carte
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminal Justice
Trenton State College, New Jersey
June 1972
xiii
FOOTNOTES
1. Biographical material on August Vollmer and the history of the Berkeley
Police Department is taken from the following sources: Albert Deutsch,
The Trouble vith Cops (New York: Crown Publishers, 195M ; J.D. Holstrom,
"Supplement: Some Sources of Information," prepared for the August Vollmer
Historical Project. Oral History Section, Bancroft Library, University of
California at Berkeley, 1971; Alfred E. Parker, Crime Fighter: August Vollmer
(New York: Macmillan, 196l); and unpublished interviews conducted for the
August Vollmer Historical Project, op. cit .
2. National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, Report on Police
(Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931).
3. In the Introduction to August Vollmer 's The Police and Modern Society
(Montclair, N.J.: Patterson Smith, 1971), p. v.
U. Bruce Smith, Police Systems in the United States, 2nd Rev. Ed. (New York:
Harper and Bros. , I960), p. v.
5. See George E. Mowry, The California Progressives (Quadrangle Books,
1963), p. 86.
6. See R.M. Brown, "The American Vigilante Tradition," in Graham and Gurr,
The History of Violence in America (New York: Bantam, 1969), p. 162.
7. John D. Holstrom, interview with the August Vollmer Historical Project,
op. cit. , 1971 •
8. V.A. Leonard, Police Organization and Management, 2nd Ed. (Brooklyn:
Foundation Press, 1961*), pp. 93-1*.
9. Letter written from Chicago to Acting Chief Jack Greening, Oct. 15, 1930,
Bancroft Library.
10. For example, see the story related by Deutsch, op. c it . , p. 226.
11. Allen Gammage, Police Training in the United States (Springfield, 111.:
Charles C. Thomas, 1963), p. 9-
12. Mowry, op_. cit. , pp. 21, 87-88.
13. Holstrom. interview, op. cit.
lU. Frank S. Gains, Mayor of Berkeley, "Berkeley: Athens of the West," in
Western City, XVI, 1, (January 19^0).
15. Rose Glavinovich, interview 1rith the August Vollmer Historical Project,
op_. cit. , 1971 .
xiv
16. Journal of the American Institute qf^Crjjiinal Lav and Criminology t
XI, 2, (August 1920), pp. loTPTO. "
IT. The Policemen's Nevs. June 1919.
18. W.P.A. Writer's Project, Berkeley: The First Seventy-Five Years
(Berkeley, Calif.: 191*!), p. 129."
19. See Fred P. Graham, "A Contemporary History of American Crime," in
Graham and Gurr, op. cit. , p. U90.
20. The Criminal (Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, 19^9) .
21. John Kenney, The California Police (Springfield, 111.: Charles C.
Thomas, 196U), p. 2U.
22. Raid., pp. 23-5.
23. National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, Report on
Lawlessness in Lav Enforcement (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1931).
University of California Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
John Holstrom
VOLLMER AS A MAN: MEMORIES OF A CLOSE FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
(c) 1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTKRVTEW HISTORY
John Holstrom was interviewed by Jane Howard as part of a series on
the personal and professional life of August Vollraer. Mr. Holstrom was a
close personal friend and professional colleague of Vollmer's for many
years. He followed in his path, serving as Berkeley Police Chief from
19UU-60. Mr. Holstrom also served as project supervisor for this interview
series.
Interviewer :
Time and Setting of
the Interview:
Jane Howard
Two interviews were conducted vith John Holstrom, on
June 29 and June 30. 1971. The interviews were held
with Mr. Holstrom in the School of Criminology, Uni
versity of California, Berkeley^Office. The first
session began at 1:30 p.m. and ended at 3:30 p.m. The
second started at ^4:00 p.m. and ended at 6:00 p.m.
Editing: Editing of the transcribed tapes was done by Jane
Howard. Punctuation, paragraphing and spelling were
corrected. Blanks left in the draft manuscript by the
typists were filled in.
Mr. Holstrom also reviewed the manuscript and eliminated
some brief sections where the same material had appeared
twice in the interview. He changed some phrases and
words for clarity, and corrected some misspelled names.
The changes were not major.
Narrative Account
of Mr. Holstrom and John Kolstrom was a police professional for forty years.
the Progress of Born in Minneapolis in 1909, Holstrom received his B.A.
the Interview: degree from the University of California at Berkeley in
1930. He Joined the Berkeley Police Department in 1931
and worked his way up to Chief by 19UU. He served as
Chief of Police from 191*1*-1960.
Concurrent with his term as police chief, Mr. Holstrom
served on the University of California, Berkeley Political
Science Department faculty and, after it was formed, the
University of California, Berkeley School of Criminology
faculty. He also worked as a police consultant serving
a broad range of federal, state, county, and city de
partments and community agencies.
ii
John Holstrom (contd. )
Mr. Holstrom is currently a partner in the firm,
Associated Law Enforcement Consultants, Berkeley.
Mr. Holstrom begins the interview with brief biographi
cal sketches and an account of how the August Vollmer
project got started. He reviews the contents of his
reference guide to the project.
The interview then follows the questionnaire outline.
In response to the question on how he became acquainted
with Mr. Vollmer, Holstrom explains that he decided to
take a summer session course from Vollmer out of
interest in a subject about which he knew little. He
was so impressed with Vollmer that he switched career
plans and went into policing.
Mr. Holstrom describes many of Vollmer 's outstanding
characteristics: his athletic abilities, his compassion
for others, his integrity, his commanding presence, his
creativity and intelligence.
In recalling anecdotes, Mr. Holstrom remembers many
occasions when meetings and parties would be interrupted
by children who came to visit Vollmer. Holstrom speaks
of Vollmer' s lack of prejudice, and his way of encour
aging people to use their abilities fully. He remembers
the many Chinese police officials who studied under or
visited Vollmer.
Mr. Holstrom also recalls a grudge carried by San
Francisco Police Chief Dullea toward Vollmer, and a
later reconciliation when Vollmer broke the silent feud
to help Holstrom gain entry into the inner circles of
the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The interview turns to a brief review of Holstrom' s
personal history. There is discussion of how unusual
Vollmer 's "college cops" were for their time, and
resentment toward the Berkeley Police Department by
other bay area police departments. Mr. Holstrom then
talks about Vollmer' s unusually good relationship with
local press.
Mr. Holstrom discusses Vollmer1 s mental qualities,
particularly his creativeness and ability to innovate.
He emphasizes that Vollmer did not care who got credit
ill
John liol strom (contd. )
for the innovations his department introduced; his
concern was simply to see that new ideas were
developed. He mentions Vollmer's firm opposition to
the use of force to gain confessions and discusses
his pqlicy prohibiting his men from taking any
gratuities.
Mr. Holstrom turns to the question of Vollmer's impact
on policing, and discusses his surveys. He also
explains the history of the establishment of the
University of California, Berkeley School of Crimi
nology.
The tape then includes Holstrom' s recollections of
phrases for which Vollmer was known, such as "kill
them [the public] with kindness".
Holstrom discusses Vollmer's Influence in Berkeley:
his successful crackdown on gambling and prostitution
within Berkeley and his ability to respond to what
the community wanted done. He explains that
August Vollmer trained many of the men who later
became leaders in Alameda County policing, and, in
fact, in law enforcement throughout the country.
Holstrom explains techniques Vollmer used to accomplish
some of his legislative goals. The tape then includes
discussion of Vollmer's participation on the Wickersman
Commission. Brief mention is made of an incident in
volving the International Workers of the World.
Holstrom describes Vollmer's use of psychiatrists and
psychiatric diagnostic techniques in the Berkeley
Police Department.
The tape closes with a lengthy description of
Mr. Vollmer's death and the months preceding it when
Holstrom and others began to suspect Vollmer would
commit suicide. He recounts Vollmer's thoroughness
and orderliness in preparing for his death.
Jane Howard
HOLSTROM: This is a recording concerning the August Vollmer Oral History
Project. It is an interview by Miss Jane Howard with John D.
Holstrom on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 29, 1971.
Under the caption of introduction I should like to say that I
am considerably heartened that at last such a renowned insti
tution as the Bancroft Library has prepared to undertake a
history of August Vollmer. I would like to contribute to it
in any way that I can.
For personal identification as concerns my own career, I
should say that after being graduated from the University of
California in 1930, I became a policeman in Berkeley in 1931;
a Sergeant in 193*», a Lieutenant in 1937; then was Chief of
Police from 19M to I960, when I retired for length of service.
Concurrently, and afterwards, I have been a part-time Lecturer
in the Political Science Department and then in the School of
Criminology at Berkeley, beginning in 19^5; and I will end 25
years of that service in June 1971. I have handed Miss Howard
a very detailed sheet of personal biographical information
which could be used if desired for reference by anyone inte
rested in my identity as a speaker on this tape.
By way of introduction also, in preparation for this interview
Mr. Carte and Miss Howard handed me a suggested outline of
subject material that might be included in this interview. In
the week or so which has intervened I have prepared for reference
for this interview and, as a matter of fact, for this project,
the draft of a paper which is identified as DRAFT on June 29, 1971,
which is some 27 pages in length plus appendices and is titled
HOLSTROM: "August Vollmcr History Project, Supplement: Some Pxmrces of
Information by Holstrom, June 1971." Copies are being made
for the Bancroft Library, by way of Miss Howard and Mr. Carte,
for Mrs. Fry in the Regional Oral History section of Bancroft
and one or two copies for reference by the Berkeley Police
Department which is involved in this total project.
By way of description, the paper contains a forepage with a
"Who's Who" description, probably written by Vollmer himself,
which is biographical. The important dates are that he was
born in 1876, was Chief of Police in Berkeley from 1905
(when actually he was City Marshal until he came Chief of
Police with the 1909 incorporation), his retirement in 1932,
his year as Chief of Police at Los Angeles in 1923-2*4, the
fact that he retired from Berkeley on June 30, 1932 and that
he died on November U, 1955 at age 79- These are milestone
dates for initial references. Besides the forepage there is
a preface about the Bancroft Library and the things which led
to the initiation of this project by Mr. Carte. Then, there
follow six chapters:
I - An introduction describing the Project.
II - Sources of Information — which con
tains a list of some 23 or 25 living
retirees of the Berkeley Police De
partment who served with Vollmer.
Ill - A list of some 26 or 27 living ex-
members of the Berkeley Police Depart
ment who served with Vollmer.
IV - A list of some living friends and
associates of Vollmer 's.
These three chapters could be used as a base for deciding who
might be most useful for oral interview. It should be empha
sized that for every day, week or month that goes by each of
these people is getting older and their memories are becoming
more diir. with the passage of time: and, as with all of ur. ,
none of them will live forever.
Section V - Refers to other sources of information;
that is, a collection of hundreds of
photographs in the Berkeley Police
Department with a suggestion of those
people who mipht be most useful in
identifying the subjects of these
photographs .
HOLSTROM: VI - A selected list of publications
and documents which are immediately
relevant .
There are three appendices in this draft. A list of deceased
retirees and former employees which might be useful as memory
aids and identifying photographs. Another appendix contains
an exchange of memoranda initiated by Gene Carte and a pre
liminary budget for this phase of this project and then there
is a third appendix for the Berkeley Police Department copy
containing internal communications and memorandum.
This is recounted so that there may be a minimum of reference
to some of the things contained herein in the narrative which
follows on the tape.
It should be said also that there are at least two or three
publications listed to which there might be reference. One
of them is Parker's "Crime Fighter: August Vollmer," a book.
One is Jack Kenney's "The California Police" and one is "The
Proceedings of the 1922 Conference of IACP in San Francisco,"
the year that Vollmer was President of the Association. Other
publications are listed in Chapter VI.
For this interview Mr. Carte and Miss Howard prepared a pre
liminary outline of general questions for an interview such
as this. There are eight general questions and I shall refer
to them by Roman Numerals as they are set forth in the outline,
I: I»ty personal relationship to Vollmer. In the summer of 1930 as
an Under-Graduate I took a summer session course from Vollmer
simply because I knew nothing about policemen and thought that
it might be interesting. It turned out to be so and as a
student I was tremendously impressed with the personality of
the instructor and highly interested in his presentation of a
subject about which I knew nothing. In addition to his own
presentation, even as long ago as 1930, he, as professors
today, used a visiting lecturer. I clearly recall that one
of the highlights of that six-week summer session was the
visiting lecturer who was a recently released inmate of
San Quentin whose subject was ''safe burglaries." We were
fascinated by a live safe burglar, who was an able speaker
and much more interested in the professor's remark that
later in the afternoon he was going to arrange for this man
to open a safe, about which we probably would read in the
daily paper. This turned out to be so; he went down in the
afternoon and was able to easily manipulate the City Clerk's
impregnable safe and open it .
HOLSTROM: Needless to say, as young people we were impressed. After
graduation in 1930, and based entirely I think on the per
sonality of Vollmer, I finally, and very much contrary to
the advice of my family and all of the family friends they
could marshal, I decided to become a policeman and did so
in 1931. The only opposition I did not have was from my
girl, who I later married; and who has stayed with me through
this career now for some ^0 years. I said to her and anybody
who was interested that I intended to go and stay for a year
and see what happened. I stayed for 29 and happened to be
at the right place at the right time so it was a modestly
successful career and it was interesting.
After this first relationship with Vollmer, he was the Police
Chief from the time I entered the Department until his retire
ment in 1932. From the relatively lowly viewpoint of the
policeman I had some considerable exposure to the Chief of
Police, mostly in the weekly meetings he traditionally held
for the whole department on Friday afternoons. Thereafter,
while he was Professor of Police Administration at the Uni
versity of California, from 1932 until his retirement in
1938, I really saw very little of him. Sometime about 1938,
after I had become a Lieutenant, I reestablished a relation
ship with him, which grew progressively closer in the years
which followed; particularly beginning with 19M when I
became the Chief of Police in Berkeley. It really became an
intimate relationship, both professionally and socially with
our wives in the ensuing years and after Mrs. Vollmer 's death.
Until the week of Vollmer 's death I saw him frequently.
As to the impact he had on my life, I suppose that I would
summarize it by saying that the 1930 summer session completely
changed the course of the career I thought I was going to have
with a shipping firm in San Francisco. So, the impact was
almost immediate and there followed; my whole career.
As a young policeman I learned from him a great deal about his
standards, his honesty, his integrity, his ideals of service.
Professionally, I benefited from knowledge gained from him and
his associates. Certainly it is true that not everything that
is attributed to Vollmer was done by Vollmer alone. Much was
done in no small measure by the people around him and the people
with whom he associated. This was the case for a number of
other people, particularly former members of the Police Department
and retired members of the Police Department. If oral interviews
are accomplished you will find that these men will tell you that
Vollmer, by his strength of character, his strength of personality
had a very substantial impact on the lives of many people; because
he was a true leader. One of his greatest attributes was his
HOLSTROM: ability to encourage other people to do things that they were
not really aware that they had the capacity to accomplish.
II: Asks, "What kind of man vas Vollmer?" To me he was a truly im
pressive personality. He had a commanding presence. He was an
athlete. Walter Gordon will tell you that the Friday meetings
were often preceeded in the police squad room in a short boxing
match with gloves with the Chief before the meeting started.
Others will tell you that before my time he frequently at noon
time walked from the City Hall to the Berkeley waterfront, which
then had purer water than it has today. Mostly because Berkeley
had outhouses instead of a sewer system. So he swam a good deal,
he was interested in the out of doors. In his later years, he
was one of the leaders in the development of the Regional Park,
where maps will show that one of the tops of the hills is named
Vollmer Peak because of his interest in regional parks.
He generally impressed others favorably, because of the type of
personality he was. I would describe him as a compassionate
man and I have very clear recollections of one of the stories
he told indicating his compassion for other people. He had a
young woman acquaintance who had a small child, probably pre
school age, who for some reason I don't now remember didn't
happen to have a husband. At one period she needed to go to
work in the mornings to support herself. She asked the Chief
for help and his reaction was to agree to do what he did and
that was for a three-month period he entertained the little
boy in his office, letting him sit on the floor at times when
there were international visitors and play with the key collec
tion in his lower desk drawer for recreation. He sometimes
took him out and dropped him orer the fence at the playground
which was then in the backyard of the City Hall, retrieving him
only occasionally for bathroom purposes; eventually turning
him over to his mother at noontime. This is a commentary on
the demands or lack of them on an active chief of police and
the willingness of a man to be helpful.
He didn't, however, impress everyone favorably. It has been
said that perhaps he was fifty years ahead of his time and of
the many innovations in the police service, many were strenuously
resisted by police officials in the neighboring communities in
California and of the nation because police administrators then,
as now, tend to be status quo people. This is understandable
because their Jobs are sufficiently contentious without having
anybody unnecessarily rock the boat for any purpose whatever and
we see this today. I'll come later to the things that he did
have to do with in developments, but it was not always easy.
HOLSTROM: He impressed the people of Berkeley when he was a mail carrier.
An oft recounted story that appears in Parker's book which was
referred to in the first section of this tape: when he was a
mail carrier he was sponsored for the election of City Marshal
by Friend Richardson, then editor or publisher of the Berkeley
Gazette, later governor of California. Interestingly, in a
matter of a few years, he and Richardson had a falling-out and
Vollner practiced then what he taught us later, which was never
to fight a newspaper. He's told me the story of maintaining a
painful silence for a period of many months in the face of cri
tical newspaper stories in the Gazette until one day Richardson
on the street said, "Vollmer, you're a bear for punishment. I
admire your silence, your forebearance ; I think I was wrong
and you were right and you'll have no further trouble with the
Gazette." He didn't.
I think that the personal characteristics that made him influ
ential were his commanding personality, his pleasant manner,
and his absolute integrity. Although I have never seen a
report on the level of his abstract intelligence taken from
testing sources, I believe that his abstract intelligence
probably was very high indeed. That fact accounted for his
extremely fertile imagination. Within recent years in circles
interested in the administration of Justice there has been
emphasis on one word that we have heard repeatedly. That is,
what is badly needed in this country is innovative ideas.
Vollner, 50 years ago, probably was more innovative than
almost all of the police administrators in active service in
this field put together. I think it was these things that
made him influential and I think that he was influential
because his colleagues and associates had confidence in his
integrity.
Ill: ''Anecdotes and Stories from My Own Relationship with Him.'
Question 3 asks for anecdotes and stories from my own contacts
about what kind of man Vollmer was. I've already described
his personality in part in a proceeding paragraph or two and
I suppose I think most about his personal relationships. Let
me say incidentally that he really had no family after his
brother died, and then after he lost his wife. There were no
children, there was only one niece at the time of his death.
He, for example, gave his house and its contents to his long
time housekeeper in gratitude for her long and faithful service
while he was a widower.
JRH: When did his wife die?
HOLSTROM: I'm not sure of the year in which his wife died and you would
have to ask another source. Dr. George Oulton, one of the
suggested sources of information in the paper I have given you,
would know from memory.
HOLSTROM: He made up, however, for this lack of children of his own by
his obvious interest in children over the years. I think, for
example, of the nineteen- fifties when I frequently visited in
his study at home or when I had occasion to take a visitor to
see him and there were so many of them, incidentally, that they
literally wore a path to his door from their visits at the Hall
of Justice. On many of these occasions whatever was being dis
cussed was interrupted by a knock at the door and it would be
one or a half dozen of the neighborhood children who came to
see Uncle Gus. There were two attractions: one was that the
children trusted him, they knew that he loved them and, besides,
he had a Jar of candy for them and so there were lots of children
from the neighborhood whose mothers were glad indeed that their
offspring were visiting with Uncle Gus instead of being underfoot
at home.
I think of an occasion of a dinner party at our house when there
might have been four or five couples; he obviously at that point
was the guest of honor, but he wasn't talking to his contempo
raries or the other guests during the cocktail hour proceeding:
dinner. He was seated in the middle of the floor teaching our
son and one of his friends some string tricks instead of talking
to the adults.
What kind of a man was he? I think of today's interest in the
so-called minority groups and I think uncharitably of people
I know who have made an opportunistic career out of professing
deep interest in the dis advantaged (as sociologists call them)
members of the community. Some of these people seem to me to
be entirely insincere or to be charitable, ineffective, really,
in what they are doing either for personal or political gain.
I don't recall in all of my conversations with Vollmer or in
anything that I have read about him ever hearing any reference
to ethnic background. As I thought about this, I think of the
many Jewish people I happen to know who considered Vollmer a
very close and personal friend. 3y way of illustration of his
Jewish friends; Just to name a few, I think of three who are
listed in the source book I have handed Miss Howard: one is
Ernest Block, the San Francisco author; one is Dr. Milton Cher-
nin, who was Vollmer 's reader and then his Administrative
Assistant and who today is the Dean of the School of Social
Welfare. I think of a delightful mutual friend the late Albert
Deutsch, whose name is also listed and who wrote "What's Wrong
with Cops?" Al Deutsch was perhaps as Jewish as a person
could be and yet Vollmer and he considered themselves the
closest of friends .
8
HOLSTROM: I think of the professed interest today of some people in
the Mexican or Spanish-American segment of the population
and I'm reminded that in the 1920 's one of Berkeley's
outstanding policemen vas a man by the name of Joe Chavez .
Joe later had problems and it vas necessary to separate him
from the police department, but it didn't happen during
Vollmer's tenure.
In the Negro community, I would simply mention Walter Gordon,
who earned his way through college, as will be perfectly
evident in the Gordon interview, by being a Berkeley police
man, including Judge Gordon's law degree. And I think of what
then took some courage on the part of Vollmer in the face of
community opposition to insist that Gordon should be placed
on the patrol beat immediately south of the University campus ,
an area not then frequented by Negroes. Vollmer has told me
that he put him there for only two reasons . One was in Gor
don 's interest, to help him gain confidence in his own self-
development and the second and overriding reason was simply
that he was the best policeman he had available for the
assignment. I'm quite sure in my own mind that Vollmer did
not even subconsciously relate his relationship with these
representatives of minority groups to their ethnic background s ,
but that he looked at a man for what the man himself represented
and that was his total interest. In any event I have never
heard of any reference to ethnic background from him nor did I
to the day of his death.
One of Vollmer's great attributes was his extraordinary
ability to encourage other people to develop ideas and to
develop practices. He didn't care very much who got credit
for doing something so long as it was done. He had the
faith in people. To send O.W. Wilson, a young patrolman,
to a California city to become a police chief and that sort
of confidence in people was evident time and time again. I
remember asking him on an occasion when I saw a very flowery
letter of reference that was given to only a mediocre Berkeley
policeman recommending him for a position. I asked the Chief
how he could possibly in good conscience give this man the
kind of recommendation he did. His response was, you never
can tell what a man is able to do, but even though I recom
mend ten, and nine of them nay disappoint me and fail, the
tenth one may surprise me. He said, 'that percentage is
good enough for me, because it is in developing people
that we make real progress in our own society."
IfOLSTFOM: Another anecdote about Vollmer in my personal experience as
a very young patrolman was to be called into the Chief's
office because he wished to inquire about something that had
happened. I'm reminded in recent years there's been a very
popular television series produced by Jack Webb entitled,
"Dragnet" which is filmed around the Los Angeles Police
Department and one of the frequent phrases that Jack Webb
has put in the mouth of Sgt. Friday is, "All I want are the
facts, ma'am," I know that this was hardly original with
Jack Webb because I so clearly remember the young police
man either standing before the Chief's desk or sitting in
a chair and having him say very pleasantly "John, I'm
interested in such and such, Just tell me the facts" and
then lean back in a relaxed manner, but looking directly
at the young policeman with his very clear eyes and
patiently awaiting the answer and even showing no sign
of impatience when the young man finally ran out of con
versation and realized that he was repeating himself and
stopped. Then the Chief's rejoinder would be "Thank you.'
All he wanted were the facts, and the young man learned
early that if he wanted opinions he would ask for them and
the young man learned a very valuable lesson. Facts are
most useful in our everyday relationships as well as in
professional relationships.
Hardly in the area of anecdotes but perhaps related more
to minority groups, I'm reminded that today I have a number
of personal friends in the Chinese community in San Francisco,
and some in Taiwan. All of these stem from early visitors
from the Mainland of China who came here as sub-officials in
the police system of China. Often as the top graduates of
the National Police College, which was located at Nanking
and before World War II in Chunking and then later in Taiwan.
The earliest of these was Yukon Feng, who became a prominent
Chinese police official and whose name is listed in the source
supplement to this tape. There were a number of others, one
of whom succeeded in earning a PhD. here in Political Science,
others who earned their Master's degrees, some of whom returned
to the police or governmental field in China, some of whom
did not. So, there has been as much identification with the
Chinese police in this relatively small police department and
in this great University, perhaps more than any other single
place in the world. A few of them did go to England, some to
Germany before World War II.
Ancedotes: When I think of the impression made on other
people I think of a dinner party at the home of Dr. Douglas
Kelley, the psychiatrist who was a member of the School of
Criminology faculty and was also the police department psy
chiatrist in Berkeley, where the guests were a mixture of
10
HOLF7RO": people from the academic field and the police field, an
interesting combination in itself. My wife reminds me
that at one stage of the evening the men all found them
selves talking to each other, the women were all clustered
about Vollmer, who was seated on a coffee table playing
a guitar softly and talking to them. »My point is, that
he was attractive not only to children, his male friends
and associates, but to their wives as well.
Anecdote about this man's constructive look to the future.
One day when he was about age 75 and we happened to be
visiting in his study, the question arose "Vhat was he
doing beside writing and carrying on a voluminous personal
correspondence?" His answer was that he hardly had time
to do all of the things that he wanted to do, that in his
spare time he was taking guitar lessons again and although
fluent in Spanish he was taking Spanish lessons to brush
up on his Spanish Just in case he needed it and because he
happened to be interested in it .
Perhaps not an anecdote but this is recounted by Parker
and others and I know it of my own knowledge. Here was
a man with about a sixth grade education formally, who
was truly a self-educated man, a man who despite his
educational handicap was a full professor before 1932
at the University of Chicago and who left that attractive
post to accept a full professorship at the University of
California, a position which was terminated only for
health reasons in 1938.
11
HOLSTROM: [Well, Jane, this is the afternoon of Wednesday, June 30,
1971 and we're going to continue a recording as we did
yesterday. On Gene Carte's suggestion it will be an
attempt to make this more of a conversation than what he
chose to call something that sounded like pure, cold
dictation, so we'll see if we can keep him happy this
afternoon. We've had a little preliminary session,
where do you wish to start? Do you want to take this
back to Roman numeral III and talk about anecdotes?]
JRH: "Sure, we may as well Just outline some of the things
we want to mention under each of the items. So why
don't you Just go ahead with III and mention the
anecdotes that you're thinking of, and then I told
you the notes that Gene would be especially interested
in, and Just keep on going."
KOLSTROM: I'm not sure that this is a straight anecdote, but
about one of my great professional friends, who was
a Chief of Police in San Francisco, by the name of
Charles W. Dullea. I repeat we became very close
friends and remained so up to the time of his death
which was perhaps three or four years ago and Just
after I became a police chief. I suppose it came
from some insight of Vollmer's, some of his influence,
I could tell you about as follows . It happened that
I was assigned to detached duty in 1939 to San Fran
cisco for a year, as a Lieutenant. I took with me
three inspectors, i.e. detectives. The stated purpose
was to assist their pickpocket detail at the San
Francisco Fair in 1939 and the reason for it was that
at the 1915 Exposition they had a lot of trouble with
pickpockets. The San Francisco Police Chief, whose
name was Bill Quinn, asked the East Bay Police depart
ments to furnish a limited number of detectives
motivated by the fact that in the 1923 Berkeley fire
a group of Uo San Francisco policemen at Vollmer's
request came over here and helped the police in
Berkeley. This was the 1939 Chief's effort; J.A.
Greening's to repay San Francisco and so he responded.
JRH: When did you become Chief of Police?
HOLSTROM: In 19^ , this was 1939 and I was a Lieutenant then,
having been one since 1937. So we went to San
Francisco and Charles Dullea then was a very in
fluential, powerful Captain of Ispectors; he headed
the Bureau of about 200 detectives or inspectors in
the San Francisco Police Department, which was the
elite unit of that department. He and his Chief Quinn
12
HOLSTROM:
JRH:
HOLSTROM:
JRH:
HOLSTROM:
JRH:
HOLSTROM:
were not on speaking terms and, because Chief Quinn
had asked for us, we were unwelcome in the Inspector's
Bureau. But there was a second reason and this has
to do with Vollmer. I heard the story after we'd
got the cold shoulder for the first painful six weeks
in San Francisco.
There were three of you?
Four; me and three Inspectors. It was explained that
what had happened was there had been a meeting in
Sacramento which had to do with police selection.
This was after Vollmer 's retirement. Vollner had
asked to come to this conference and I have no idea
now whether it was legislative committee or what
it was, but it was a meeting. There was a contingent
led by Captain Dullea and of course, Vollmer was there.
In the course of the afternoon they got into debate
about qualifications for policemen. Vollmer had made
a proposal about upgrading the standards for entrance
and Captain Dullea got up and said that was a fine
theory , underscoring the word theory. Reflecting
one of his predecessor's points of view, that pre
decessor being a Captain Matheson. Duncan Matheson
had said some years before that Vollmer might be a
very interesting and effective man in Berkeley, but
he was so full of theories that he wouldn't know how
to get a practical police job done, thus reflecting
the kind of thing you're interested in about who didn't
really admire Vollmer all the time.
Yes, obviously he did get his Job done,
anyway.
In Berkeley,
Well, Captain Matheson didn't happen to think that some
of Vollmer 's ideas were really suitable for San
Francisco, which he considered to be a much more sophis
ticated community than anything in northern California.
Why weren't they suitable?
Captain Matheson didn't think so. Yesterday I used
the word status quo. I didn't know Captain Matheson
but I assume he was afflicted to some extent with
this status quo position, and which I said yesterday
is understandable to me. Having said at the Sacra
mento meeting that these things wouldn't work, Vollmer
slipped one of the few times I'm aware of, the only
time I'm aware of publicly and he made the unfortunate
statement that he wasn't much interested in what was
13
HOLSTRO!': acceptable in San Francisco because he said, "San Francisco
Policemen are a bunch of morons, anyway." He shouldn't
have said it, he deeply offended Captain Dullea and by 1939
Captain Dullea hadn't gotten over it.
JPH: This was how many years earlier? Two or...
HOLSTROM: Just a couple of years, or more.
JPH: That's a long time to hold a (trudge.
HOLSTROM: No, it isn't. That isn't a long time to hold a grudge if
you're interested in that facet. This man who I consider
to be a great Irishman and who was, I repeat, a great
personal friend in later years. Dullea, among his other
characteristics he had a personal system for taking care
of people he didn't like and didn't admire and his system
was very simple — they simply didn't exist. He didn't
see them, he didn't hear them and he refused to discuss
them. When I got to know him real well In later years
and happened to mention a name that was objectionable
to him the most that he would ever do was say "Yes, I've
met him, "that was Dullea.
In addition to or following the San Francisco thing, not
only was Dullea very unhappy with Vollner, but that meant
he was unhappy with Berkeley, the Berkeley police force
and unhappy with Berkeley. I've been told by one of his
drivers that as a Captain and later the Chief of Police
of Can Francisco, if he could, he would attempt to detour
Berkeley because Berkeley was one of those things he
wanted to ignore. This was a characteristic of that
very strong man.
Bring it back to Vollmer again. I don't recall that
Captain Dullea himself ever did acknowledge that four
of us spent a year in San Francisco, but we became
acceptable to his elite squad of elites, which was the
Robbery Detail where we gained very close friends. I
don't recall that I ever spoke to Captain Dullea the
entire year of 1939. To begin to relate this to Volljner,
I became a Police Chief in 19^ and went to my first
State Police Officer conference, attended mostly by
Police Chiefs in Fresno. I was thirty- five years old
KOLSTROM: which was strike one, very young. I presume, that I
probably was the lonesomest fellow in Fresno , because
this was simply the way it was. This what we used to
call a closed corporation and these men were interested
in each other. They knew each other and nobody extended
himself to say hello to me. So I attended the meeting
for about three days feeling very much like a forgotten
orphan. I came home and happened to be talking to Chief
Vollmer in his home one day and he wanted to know how
the first meeting went in Fresno and the year possibly
was 191*1* or 'U5. So I told him about this experience
and he said, well, that's regrettable. I'm sure that
it wasn't deliberate, you must realize that these nen
are friends and have associated for years and nobody
was thoughtful enough to take you under his wing.
I was told years later by Dullea what happened. Mind
you now, they hadn't spoken since 1937, mind you of
the allegation of detouring Berkeley by this Irishman.
Chief Vollmer called hiir. on the telephone and said,
"Charlie, there's something you could do and I think
this has gone on long enough. We have a fine young
man who is the Chief of Police in Berkeley and the
outlook is he's going to be there for a long time.
This is ridiculous and I think the first thing that
we'd better do is admit that it is and I have a direct
request to rake of you because I kno^.• that your interest
in the police service will transcend any personal feel
ings that you may have. It is a constructive interest
and I believe it to be. Charles, I would appreciate it
if you would call Holstrom and invite him over to your
office and make up your own mind about him and if you
are at all favorably impressed there are ever so many
things you can do for him, for the Berkeley Pepartment ,
maybe perhaps for your own Department in the process
and you can do it and nobody else can. And so it
happened .
The result of that was and we're talking about what did
he r.ean to my own career — Charlie Dullea, next to
Vollner and Greening, and perhaps next to Vollmer had
more of an effect upon my career than anyone else. He,
Dullea, had been a President of the California Peace
Officer's Association. Once the Irishman decided to
forgive, by 1950, I was President of the C.P.O.A. under
Dullea 's sponsorship, by 1957 at Honolulu I was elected
President of the International Association of Chiefs of
Police and Dullea before ne had been President of both
of then. When I went to my second IACP conference in
15
HOLSTROM: Duluth, Mr. and Mrs. Dullea saw to it that I was never
alone, either at the time of the meetings or socially
in the evenings. Mrs. Dullea because of her age became
something like a second mother to my wife. This all
happened because Vollmer thought it should and Dullea
was willing to do it. I became a member of the Board
of Governors of the Bureau of Criminal Identification
and Investigation. I inherited Dullea1 s position after
his retirement. This was traceable to Dullea and Vollmer.
JRH: Of course, you got to know him too.
HOLSTROM: Well, I got to know him very well, but it was the
breaking of the ice that did it; something I probably
never could have accomplished. I'm sure my Chief
Greening could not have accomplished it and I don't
know anybody else who could.
JKH: Did he try to get Dullea earlier, like in '39? What
happened? Did Vollmer try to intervene for you in 1939?
HGLSTBOK: i,"o! Only after I became a Police Chief. Well so much
for that anecdote. Another one about Vollmer when you
talk about did he try to do anything? One of the
positions that he took after his retirement was that
retired police chiefs should never, except under extreme
circumstances, go back and appear at their own police
departments. This distressed me, after 19^. I once
asked him why and he said, "For the very simple reason
that I don't believe that people who have no responsibility
should take it upon themselves to kibbitz on the other
fellow's operation. I'd never come into the Hall of
Justice unless it's at your insistent invitation."
JRH: But, you mentioned that at some point, I'm not sure if
it was when you were Chief or not, that he did sometimes
talk to potential police candidates after he left the
force or before they would be put on the force.
HOLSTROM: He talked to lots of people and I think I would like to
leave the response to that to a later section of this
report about influences he had. This will have to do
with the people he saw after retirement. Is that all
right?
JRH: Yes, because apparently he did have an influence even
after he left .
HOLSTROM: Tremendous influence!
JPH: You said he wouldn't supersede somebody's authority,
but he still would influence.
HOLSTROM: I said he wouldn't visit the Berkeley Police Department.
His favorite phrase was "John, if there's anything you
want, Just ring the bell." I heard this up until the
week of his death. So much for that. I guess, Jane,
we're still on the subject of anecdotes and there was
something I wanted to be sure to say to you, I have in
my hand, and it's in the list of publications of the
supplement that I prepared for you, a reference to a book,
which is "The Crime Fighter: August Vollmer," by Alfred
Parker. I must say, if I didn't say yesterday, that
this book was disappointing to some people, probably
including me. However, it is a collection of anecdotes.
I have heard if not all, most of them from Vollmer
himself, so there's little point in repeating what Al
Parker said in the book.
There are the anecdotes there about Vollner, in answer
to one of your off the tape preliminary questions about
Vollraer's early days — his youth, his background, his
military service in the Spanish-American War, his being
a mail carrier in Berkeley, how he became elected City
Marshal, the clean-up platform that he stood on then.
As he used to say, to chase out of town the gamblers,
most of whom were Chinese; the prostitutes, many of whom
vacationed here, some of whom worked here; and to do
something about the 1905 controversy about what we today
politely call alcoholic beverages. This is all related
in Parker's book, I've heard these stories before, I
could read the book to you, but why should I; it would
take up too much time on the tape.
I have no ideas, as I said yesterday, what will be con
tained in Parker's forthcoming book, The History of the
Berkeley Police Department or The Berkeley Police Story,
as I think it's going to be called. I assume there will
be more of this kind of thing, and so I'd Just as soon
drop the anecdotes at this point. I really don't have
any others that occur to me at the moment.
JRH: You don't know, you're saying, about the early period
of his life. You don't know anything, anymore stories
essentially, but what's contained in there.
HOLSTROM: Essentially, I do not. Nov, I have two or three
documents here, that are referred to in the supplement
also. The most reliable one probably is titled "The
History of the Berkeley Police Department," the revision
17
HOLSTROM: of which was developed by then Lieutenant Ton Johnson
in 1956. There are in it some brief statements tinder
the caption of "Law Enforcement in the Pre-Vollmer Era,"
and then there is another major caption "Law Enforcement
in the Vollner Era" and what he did then. These supple
ments tend to validate what Parker has said. As a
matter of fact Parker's material probably came from
two sources; one was Vollmer himself to Parker, and the
other was Berkeley police training outlines, which I
am sure that he must have used for the book that is
forthcoming.
JRH: You mean the course outlines for training?
HOLSTROM: One of their courses is on the history of the Berkeley
Police Department. They were used in their basic training
school and still are.
JRH: We'd only be interested in that early period if you knew
something more than Parker has given us , from your own
experience and things that Vollmer had told you. Things
actually that — for instance, you talked with Spenger.
You said he might give us an idea of what Berkeley was
like at the time that Vollmer was elected Marshal, or
something .
HOLSTROM: I'm sure as I mentioned to you yesterday that Frank Spenger
ST., who is at least in his 80's has a clear memory. Of
course, he can tell us a great deal about that period. We
mentioned this yesterday when we were reviewing the chapter
in the supplement that I keep referring to about friends
and associates of Vollmer who are still alive.
JRH: You didn't come to Berkeley until — Well, you were born in
1909 and didn't come until after that, after high school or
something.
HOLSTROM: No, I went to school here from 1926, here at the University
to 1930.
JRH: That's what I meant, you weren't a child in this area, so you
wouldn't. . . .
HOLSTROM: Well, I was brought up in the South, in Tennessee, and the
last two years of high school my family returned to California,
lived in Oakland down by the lake and I finished high school
in Oakland. Then I came to Berkeley and during the years I
was in college I took a summer course froir. Vollmer. I didn't
know anything about policemen and I'd never seen one around
18
HOLSTROM: my house and I probably was never west of Ellsworth Street
the four years that I was in college. The only policeman
I knew was Officer Browning who put traffic tags on my
Model-T Ford for parking it down at Sather Gate. I had a
running contest with Mr. Browning for four years trying
to talk him out of traffic tags. This was all I knew
about policemen; I had no interest in them. They didn't
bother me and I wasn't aware of them. They didn't mean
a thing in the world in my young life.
JRH: You mentioned that your family was opposed to you becoming
a policeman.
HOLSTROM: I Just found that out last Sunday when my 91 year old
mother was over for dinner and I told her what I was
doing and she said your father and I were opposed. I
said, you didn't ever tell me, and she said that wasn't
the way we did things. We had your uncle tell you, but
we didn't tell you. We weren't very happy with you until
your career turned out all right in our opinion. I never
heard that one before.
JFH: Gene said that when you were a college student it wasn't
so common to become a policeman.
HOLSTROM: It was not at all common. However, Vollmer and his so-
called college cops began before the era of Walter Gordon,
for example, and before the era of General Dean; around
1919-1921 or so. I learned in San Francisco, as a patrolman
when I used to go over with one of the inspectors and go to
the detective line-ups, that there were two things you didn't
talk about over there and I'm not reflecting on San Francisco
today, I'm talking about the 1930" s. I was a very young man.
I was in my twenties. Two things you didn't say, one was
you didn't emphasize you were from Berkeley and you certainly
didn't emphasize that you went to the University, even when
in the City of Oakland. I learned this in my '20's as a young
policeman.
JRH: Well, things haven't changed too much, have they? Was it the
same kind of, in a sense there's some kind of rivalry with
Berkeley being some kind of intellectual center?
HOLSTROM: No, not anymore I think. San Francisco's Director Ed Conber
was a member of this faculty of the School of Criminology.
JRH: I wasn't thinking so much in terms of the P.D., Just in general,
JRH:
KOLSTROM:
JRH:
HOLSTROM:
HOLSTROM: I vas speaking generally, too. Oakland has had great emphasis
on education and we've had any number of Oakland policemen as
students in the f-chool of Cririnology. The incumbent Chief
Charles Gain is interested in education and as a matter of fact
is a member of the Advisory Council of the School of Crimino
logy today, as is the police chief of Berkeley. If there is
resentment in some police circles today, I think it isn't a
matter of being concerned about the Berkeley police department,
those days are gone. What used to disturb people was the
publicity Vollmer got and the reputation led to the invidious
comparisons that were made.
I don't pet in what sense they were critical, that they were
because they were training college kids?
No, it was because there was so much publicity worldwide
about Berkeley and sometimes comparisons were made with
San Francisco or Oakland.
Unfavorably I
Unfavorably and, right or wrong, people don't appreciate being
compared with somebody who some people think are better than
they are. If there are resentments today in police circles then
that's a different story, that runs to the whole University.
A lack of sympathy or even understanding about the University
and what is regarded as extreme premissiveness of the Univer
sity administration and faculty. The disorders that go back
to 196U on this campus. There are some feelings statewide
about the University of California; right or wrong, it's a
fact. Then, there are other people beside policemen who are
unhappy about the University of California. I don't want to
make a speech about this but everybody knows who pays attention
to anything on this campus. This runs to the incumbent state
administration and to the legislature and such things as
faculty salaries. A very long story, which has nothing to do
with Vollmer.
JRH: The resentment in those days was more specifically related to
the fact that they were considered an elite cop corps getting
so much attention.
HOLSTROM: That was their worldwide reputation for which Vollmer was
responsible. An extraordinary amount of national publicity,
even international about this little police department in a
small town.
JRH:
Why do you think it got so much publicity?
20
HOLSTP.OM: Because of Vollmer 1
JRH: Did he promote the publicity? It was unusual, I guess.
HOLSTROM: He had a greater sense of publicity than anybody I ever net
and I suppose now maybe we're talking about Vollmer the man;
I don't know what subject matter this falls under. In the
days of Vollraer's incumbency and even to right around the
time of World War II, we didn't have television. We had
some radio, some newscasts, some special programs, but the
media, the channels, were newspapers; and Vollmer really
understood how to get along with newspapers. The Berkeley
Gazette supported him tremendously and I inherited that
support. I didn't invent it, the Oakland Tribune under
J.R. Knowland, Sr., who was the publisher and during all of
the years that Rose Glavinovich, a very capable newspaperwoman
was the dean of the Berkeley Press Corps. The Police Depart
ment in Berkeley for many years got a good deal more column
inches in the Oakland Tribune than did the Oakland Police,
for example, because Vollmer knew how to get along with the
press.
JP.H: It's sort of surprising if there was so much resentment,
say, of the Oakland Police, of Berkeley Police, that they
would print this stuff about what he was doing.
HOLSTROM: It was a metropolitian newspaper and it wasn't owned by the
City of Oakland. It was owned by J.R. Knowland.
JRH: How did he, he Just got on well with Knowland? He'd always
send his stuff down to him or what?
HOLSTROM: He dealt through Rose Glavinovich who was one of his
protegees, even though she was a newspaper woman.
JRH: She was what? Dean of the Berkeley press?
HOLSTROM: Police Press Corps. Rose was extremely capable. People trusted
her. I did and Vollmer did. She was based in the Police
Department in the Press Room.
JPH: She was paid by the City or by the Berkeley P.L., or she was a
member of the paper staff?
HOLSTROM: lk>, she worked for the Tribune and her first loyalty was to
her publisher and boss Mr. Knowland.
JRH: But her office was in your, in the Police Department?
21
HOLFTROM: The Police Department furnished a Press Office.
JRH: That was handy!
HGLSTROK: Yes! Way up until the time I retired and perhaps later,
full time representation from the Tribune , the Gazette,
the Examiner and the Chronicle, and in the days when it
was published, the Oakland Post Inquirer, they were housed
right in the iriddle of the Detective Division.
JBH: So you had five press people working, stationed at the T.D.
full time .
HOLSTROM: With open access to the files.
JPH: That's important to the press people too. That's something
they always complain about — they don't have enough action.
HOLSTTOM: This was an extraordinary unioue press relationship that went
on well into the early part of ny administration. It was such
a feelinf of confidence, not always honored, but most of the
time, so that Vollmer was able, my predecessor Greening was
able and I was able, on an extremely selective basis, to record
a case, give it a serial number and put a notice on what we
call the daily bulletin, which carried a synopsis of every case
we handled; we were able to put on it a notation 'no publicity'
and this was honored by the press . We had to be very careful
not to overdo it. Times changed and it was no longer handled
in that fashion. They have now a Berkeley Police Press Officer.
They no longer have access to the files.
JP.K: They no longer have office space in your....
HOLSTROM: I don't know whether or not they have office space. I don't
think so. I haven't inquired in the last four or five years
when this change came about.
JHH: Did Vollrer request that all of these people come and be
stationed there?
HOLSTROM: I.'o, the newspapers sent them because this was a source of news.
JRH: normally a police department is not a real big source of news
or maybe it was more so —
HOLSTPOM: It was more so maybe five, ten years ago than it is today.
All you have to do is pick up the newspaper and read the
crime news and interested people still do. The only difference
is today that homicides very frequently tend to be on the inside
pages. Five years ago they were on the front page. F.ose can
HOLSTROM: tell you more about the press than I can; she lived with it.
I've told you toy relationship with her was and is very close.
JRH: That was very interesting because it shows how he got his
ideas across. He had all these people there and they wrote
up all his press releases for bin.
HOLSTROM: Oh, he didn't write them, they wrote them. If he thought
there was something that they might be interested in or that
he was interested in, then he'd call them in and tell them.
He was meticulous that if one newspaper reporter knew it,
all of them should know it ; because he knew enough to get
along with City Editors. They're not always easy people to
get along with, I'll tell you from experience. Well, the
press thing is a subject you can get Rose to talk about, she
can tell you.
IV: "What was Vollmer's Professional Impact? What were the major
ideas and principles that Vollmer stood for? What were the
major influences Vollmer had on Police in education and
training or in other areas?"
JFH: I think that what we want here is the same thing you said
about the Parker book; I don't think there is much need for
us to go over what has already been printed or what you know
that's written somewhere else, but from your point of viev
either to give a sense of... Like the last thing, the publicity,
it gave us an idea of how he got his ideas across. Something
in relation to that or how his ideas came from his personality.
Not so much what is recorded in writing elsewhere.
HOLSTEOM: Well, vhat was Vollaer's professional impact? Again, I would
refer you to that book The Crime Fighter by Parker. I would
also refer you to what I consider to be a not very good book,
which is listed in the supplementary, by V.A. Leonard titled
The Police of the Twentieth Century . Leonard is really not
precisely accurate all the time, but you can gain from Leonard's
book some of Leonard's impressions, and they're essentially
correct, of Vollaer's professional impact. I would say simply,
and it cannot be honestly challenged by anyone, that he was
often called, as most of who know believe it today, the father
of modern police administration. I say this without Qualifi
cation or exception of any kind. That was his broad professional
impact.
JTUI: Some of the things he stood for, I guess and what you've told
me, like training, educating them, the use of fingerprinting —
where do you think he got the ideas? What I'm interested in
is how he cot to thinking that way.
23
HOLSTPGM: How did he get to thinking the way he did? Let's see, first
I'm confident that his abstract intelligence level was very
high. I believe that people of that kind have very high
imaginations; I believe that his high imagination led him to
the things that one could call his own innovations. He didn't
really care whether he thought them up or somebody else did.
If he didn't innovate them, to use that word, then he adapted
them or he adopted them and he didn't much care who got the
credit for them; it didn't make any difference to him. He was
only interested in whether something was useful; if it was he
would use it. If he attempted it and found out it wasn't useful
he dropped it. It didn't disturb him that some things didn't
work for him or somebody else. He took the view that if out of
several ideas one was useful that was worthwhile; it was his
same view about people. If someone he recommended was successful,
if one out of ten was his score, there was a certain satisfation
for him.
JKH: Sometimes, though, if he recommended things that don't work,
people you didn't think were too competent?
HOLSTROM: What he was able to do though that some of today's innovators
that I spoke disparagingly of yesterday do not, is that some
of these latter-day people who are trying desperately to inno
vate and who are unable to apply those innovations successfully
are quite different from this man. The things that he attempted
in the main and carried through proved to be practical, useful.
JRH: So he got usually a better than one out of ten average.
HOLSTROM: The score was good enough so that he was the father of modern
police administration. It wasn't all Vollner, it was Vollmer
and the people around him and the people he encouraged. This
was by no means a one man show, from the start,
in Parker's book.
That's reflected
What were the major ideas and principles that he stood for? I
suppose that this can be answered in several ways, though one
is that he believed in almost absolute honesty and integrity
as concerned himself and his people. Of course, this gained
him respect , even among people who would have like to have been
less than honest as he would have liked.
That reminds me -of another anecdote. One of the interesting
series of things that some of us observed over the years. A
number of people he communicated with by letter, the number of
people who came to see him who were actually inmates of the big
prisons or were ex-inmates. Dean Chernin will tell you that,
it used to disturb him even in the years that Vollmer was on
the campus in the 1930' s, by the number of ex-inmates of £an
Quentin who came to call on the Chief.
HOLSTPOM: I have no difficulty in recalling that his inspectors carried
on correspondence with people that they had sent to Can Quentin
and I think the Leonard book indicates that among the other
people he encouraged were two people who wrote books while
they were in prison. I have now forgotten the titles. One of
them was 'You Can't Win"by a man by the name of Jack Black, who
wrote this book before that summer session who was in San Quen
tin and another one was a man, I think his name was Sutherland.
In any event this is in Leonard's book.
He was a kind man, a compassionate man and he was the author of
the statement, "Everytime the doors of San Quentin, which was
then our leading prison, opened to admit somebody, they also
opened to release somebody." So these people are not put away
forever and you can't ignore them. There was another relation
ship that he maintained. Interesting one!
JBH: How would he get to know the Inmates? When they were released
from San Quentin, they would come to talk? Or they would be...
HOLSTPOM: Sometimes they'd come and talk to hiir. He had it arranrert, so
the Record Bureau was notified about all releases from state
prisons.
JRH: Gene said he had quite a tine arranging that, that was resisted.
The first notices were Just to San Francisco, Oakland or r.ore-
thing.
HOLSTPOM: Berkeley had the first arrangement of this kind in this area
so far as I know and that was somewhat before my time. By
the time I got there this was routine; it no longer happens.
It doesn't fit in with modern penology for a policeman to
know who's been paroled. That's a different subject too.
Let's talk about principles. He had another principle that
was firmly established by 1931, the time T got there, and
this has to do with the use of force. We were talking about
the third degree and most people relate this to physical
force. Every Berkeley police recruit became aware immediately
about that one. We had rules and regulations, but some of
them were flexible. There were some that were not flexible.
Dishonesty was inflexible! On force, the rule was very s5irnle.
I heard him refer to it more than once. I heard it from him
when I was a police recruit. It was that no Berkeley police
man should ever strike any person, particularly a prisoner,
except in extreme self-defense; and then he said, if you ever
do, you have Just resigned. You needn't bother to come in and
discuss it and this one he meant.
IIOLCTROM: I remember his returning perhaps in 1932 from the University
of Chicago and Captain Lee had been the acting police chief.
I think I remember this, but I may have read it in depart
mental meeting minutes, he took occasion to say at this
departmental meeting; they wanted a comment about an inci
dent that occured while he was away that he had discussed
with the Captain upon his return. It might have been
possible to rationalize it, he said, but it was necessary,
so I Just want to tell you that, first, the Captain made
the decision. I wasn't here, and so his decision stands.
All the Captain did was to admonish the policeman. He
said, 'Had I been here, if he had not immediately resigned,
I would have fired him. I want no one to misunderstand my
position. I've said enough about that. I'm sure you
understand me." We had no difficulty understanding.
This was as late as the 1930's. The physical third degree,
the beating, perhaps for no real good reason, perhaps to
extract confessions, was not uncommon in this country- It
probably was touched upon in the Vickershain Report, which
Vollmer worked on in the 1930 's.
Today Berkeley police have what they call their Police
Regulations. Current police regulations were produced
under my administration in 1950 when we updated the old
192U regulations because we couldn't apply them. It's
true that these were developed by a committee of policemen
representative of all ranks with me, the Chief, reserving
the final decision on what would go into it and what
would not go into it. By and large, while Vollmer had
nothing to do directly with these regulations they were
the product of people who had been taught the Vollmer
ideals and the Vollmer principles and reference to those
police rules today would be a very fair reflection of
Vollmer. They were so carefully discussed and carefully
written that this is 1971 and although they've been
modified necessarily because of the passage of time, they
are not only enforceable, but they're almost self-enforcing.
Everybody understands them and they're not Just a set of
regulations that people ignore, which so often happens to
rules and regulations . These are the standards of the
Department today and this is a very direct product of the
Vollmer influence, written by those of us who either
served with him or followed him and were subjected to his
ideas.
JRH: I'm curious about one aspect, and I think Gene's interested,
and that is how a man gets that sort of mind. Was it from
his family?
HOLSTROM: I don't know! O.W. Wilson, who you and I are going to see
in fan liepo this Friday, may know about this. I think it's
Just the kind of man he was. I have no idea. I don't know
who influenced him. I an quite sure that his parents did,
but to what degree I don't know. He was a man of high prin
ciples.
I'm sure that you have seen cartoons or heard about the
policeman taking the apple from the peddler's stand. The
policeman and gratuities. I've heard dozens of stories.
It may be true today about policemen taking advantage of
what is supposed to be their position — free cigarettes,
free cigars, free liquor, free meals. This is Just the
beginning of the whole thing, of pay-offs of various kinds.
Vollmer had a very clear and firm policy on this from the
very outset and that is that no Berkeley policeman could
accept gratuities. Gratuities may have been the rule rather
than the exception when I became a policeman in 1931, but
not in Berkeley. You did not accept even a free cup of
coffee. You paid for it. You didn't accept anything else
and I'c confident that it's true today. I know that it was
true up to I960, through my own period of service. This
was carried to the point that some people thought was the
extreme.
On those occasions where gifts, gratuities were sent to
Berkeley policemen or given to them, the rule was clear.
It was promptly reported; the material, whatever it was
money or goods , was promptly turned into the Personnel
Officer. The recipient was given the opportunity to
return it to the donor; if he didn't chose to do so the
Personnel Officer did, with thanks and an explanation
that it could not be accepted even though it was given
in good faith by someone who thought the policemen did
something extraordinary and it was a gift from the heart.
Sometimes, and I had to do it myself, people were not
always happy about getting gifts returned; but they were
returned with the best explanations that we had.
I think of one or two occasions where those things were
not promptly reported and the policemen found themselves
in difficulty and it was major difficulty. Do you want
me to give you an illustration or are we wasting tape?
After Vollmer retired we had a policeman, I had a tele
phone call from the then Superintendent of the very large
Heinz plant in Berkeley, who had grown up in Berkeley,
27
HOLSTKOM: and he said, 'Chief, I want to tell you something. You have
an officer who's been very friendly with my people and we're
glad to have him around.' The Superintendent said that,
"The other day he approached one of my foremen and said it
would be nice if he had a case of catsup and so my foreman
gave it to him.1 A case of catsup means nothing whatever
to me or the Keinz Co., but I didn't think it was in con
formity with the Berkeley policy and he said, ''I don't want
to get this man in trouble."
The result of this was that we interviewed the policeman, we
had a staff discussion about it and we applied what we
thought were the principles that we'd learned from Vollmer.
We decided not to fire him; we suspended him for two weeks
and we reduced him to the bottom of the seniority list
which affected his assignments, required him to work nights,
he lost his vacation selection. We did everything to him
short of separation, lie stayed at the bottom of that seniority
list for a year on good behavior. At the end of the year we
restored him. We had made our point.
JRH: To everybody else tool
HCLSTROiM: Well, certainly I Whether this was reasonable or unreasonable,
at least this was an adherence to what we thought we were
taught .
JRIi: I guess the guy said that's the important kind of thing to
discourage.
HOLSTROM: Well, so much for gratuities! We were not permitted to accept
witness fees. We went to Court in the early days on our own
overtime and in latter days we were paid by the City. The
witness fees were paid by the Court. They reverted to the
City Treasury. On this subject, of not accepting things, in
my early years it was a rule rather than the exception for
there to be police balls, dances, that is. Policemen sold
tickets, going out and selling them to people under some
duress. There was never a police ball in Berkeley, although
there certainly were in neighboring cities. The principle
was simple — that you simply don't seek favors and then you
have no obligations to repay them. Ke was attempting to
professionalize; an attempt that is still going on.
I think that's about all for the moment on your subject about
ideas and principles.
You asked what were the major influences that Vollmer had on
policing? A subject that would reouire considerable develop
ment; again, I refer you to the Leonard and the Parker books.
JRH: Well, I guess we can skip most of that because most of it
is recorded in the books .
HOLSTROM: One thing that isn't recorded and that was a major Influence
that continues right up to this month, was that Vollmer in
these books and elsewhere was recorded that he did a number
of administrative surveys, administrative studies to re
organize. And these ranged from all kinds of places, Japan,
Kansas City, Chicago, Havana. Inspector Woods going to
Nanking. On the subject of surveys, because this had a
major influence, it really is not recorded, I have it recorded
in a term paper that a police officer from the Philippines
did for me in the School in a Criminology course in 1963.
He cane here, he was interested in administrative service and
asked me if I wanted to undertake a special project and what
I knew about Vollmer and he developed a book, a term report
which I have in my possession. It's titled, ''An Analysis of
Organization and Administrative Surveys in Police Departments
in the United States." The Phillipine Kational's name was
Vivencio Austere. The largest collection of police studies
of this kind exists in the combined collection of the Insti
tute of Governmental Studies on the Campus here, in the
Berkeley Police Department, and in my own very much less
extensive collection.
Sometime about 19M, a Lieutenant by the name of Bowers and
I spent every Tuesday night for a year with him in a two-
man seminar on the subject of police surveys. Out of that
grew some extensive activity in this connection. "Tien,
Vollrcer himself had sent people out to do surveys.
JP.H: You mean in the sense of management studies?
HOLSTROM: Yes, management studies I We called them surveys, for better
or for worse. O.W. Wilson did some and there were other
people under Vollmer who did. Captain, later Chief, Greening
did a 1932 study of the Honolulu Police Department following
the Massie case, a famous case in the way of history. In 1932,
Greening did one that I recall in San Rafael. Then my memory
really carries me to my own incumbency as the Police Chief
and then subsequently my own staff which I used as an advisory
group. We decided on a number of policies. One of them was
that we would attempt to see that every officer from the rank
of Lieutenant and above, and there were only a handful, would
have the opportunity to do at least one of these and I think
of any nurter of them that were done. Captain, then Lieutenant
John Lindouist, a simple one in Walnut Creek; later a compli
cated one at Anchorage, Alaska, which is a very involved story.
29
HOLSTROM: There was a lot of local difficulty, undone at the request of
the City Manappr, whose Job war. in Jeopardy at that time.
Lieutenant Whaley at Des Moines; I think of Lieutenant Sickler
at perhaps Manteca, and some in Eureka. These are in addition
to the ones that are recorded about Vollmer himself. At one
point most of these studies in this country were done by
Vollmer and then by O.W. Wilson based on what he had learned
from Vollmer. I think of then Lieutenant, now Chief of Campus
Police, William Beall at Medford, Oregon, in 1951. There were
others.
JRH: There were a great many people.
HOLSTROM: Yes, a lot of them. Now, the outgrowth of this, was that these
ranking officers had these experiences and they came back to
us broader people for having thought about these things, for
having to apply the Vollmer principles. In the year that I
was president of the International Association of Chiefs of
Police we established the Field Service Division of IACP
which today does the bulk of these studies with a highly
competent staff.
JRH: Field Service Division of what?
HOLSTROM: International Association of Chiefs of Police. It's an inter
esting commentary that today's director of the Field Service
Division of the IACP is a man by the name of Roy McLaren; Roy
was a Berkeley policeman and a student of mine for a year.
There are several other people on that IACP staff who came
from Berkeley or from Oakland. This is traceable directly to
Vollmer. Captain Greening, incidentally, did one of Santa
Barbara in 1937. V.A. Leonard in Seattle. There are a number
of them, that's my point. The present Police Chief of Alameda,
formerly Berkeley Police Captain Richard Young surveyed
Klamath Falls.
Now in my own case after I retired in I960, I began to do a
number of these. My own bio-sketch of which you have a copy
of will reflect this. That bio-sketch lists perhaps a dozen
or so and if you're interested in this, the smallest one,
(I've had to answer this question before — "What was the
smallest one you ever did?") I hold an international distinc
tion. I once spent two months studying the two-man police
department of the exclusive community of Ross, California.
The largest one I have done alone was 1967 on Honolulu with a
complement of 1105 people. The most extensive thing I've ever
gotten mixed up with was not a survey, but a study of law
enforcement agencies of the Treasury Department. That, I felt
I was not capable of doing alone so it was done for the Secre
tary of the Treasury by me with Bruce Smith, Sr. and O.W. Wilson
30
HOLSTROM: in about 1953. What I knew and what Wilson knew derived
principally from Vollmer and his ideas, probably embellished
by our own thoughts, adapting to whatever the situation was.
We're on the subject of his influences on policing, I need
not relate here because it's in the books about the influences
in the field of transportation, the Berkeley innovation or
adaptations of the use of the bicycle as early as 1906, the
use of the motorcycle, the early use of the automobile. The
early developments in Berkeley, although not the first in
police radio, in the area of communications for example.
Influences on education, you ask? Awhile ago we were attempting
to establish a date and the current bulletin, the 1970-71
bulletin of the School of Criminology says in its opening sentence
that the study of criminology in Berkeley began in a summer
program in 19l6. A program designed by Vollmer and
Alexander Kidd, who was a professor of law, evolved into a
group major; which was in political science in 1933 and was
still in political science when I began teaching in 19^5; that
grew into the School of Criminology which was established in
1950. Now, this is education, as distinguished from training.
You asked me how the School was developed? Vollmer had dreamt
about it for more than thirty years , as he explained to me one
time, when I became relatively impatient before 1950, and I
was attempting to help, in a modest way, Dr. Paul Kirk who was
making the necessary arrangements with the Academic Senate to
get the School established. It was established because Vollmer
had dreamed of it and it was established directly in 1950; its
establishment was possible because there had been enough deve
lopment behind it at that time and because two close friends
of his were in the positions they were. One was Robert Gordon
Sproul, who was president of the University and the other was
a close personal friend of his, Monroe Deutsch, who was then what
they called the Provost of the University and was in charge of
this campus. It was with the support of Sproul and Deutsch that
Vollmer was encouraged to direct the efforts of Paul Kirk and
my contribution was very nodest indeed! I was on the faculty
and did not have the academic stature that Kirk, did, but I was
highly involved and it was I instead of O.W. Wilson, only because
at the time that the ground work was done, in about the period
'U6-'U7, O.W. was still on duty with the Military Occupation
Forces in Germany.
That's how the School of Criminology got started. Summer
sessions and the early Berkeley Police Training School are
described in Parker's book. I've referred so many times to
the utilization of people in the academic disciplines in the
University and their incidental utilization in criminal
31
KOLSTPOM: investigations. People in all kinds of endeavors up here
in the natural sciences, in forestry, for example, because
of the interest in woods, in evidence in wood. In any event
the training school by the middle of the 1930 's had evolved
into something that Vollmer had long thought about and that
was the establishment of some kind of a school in an educa
tional institution of higher learning.
There was a man who was president of San Jose State College,
it escapes me at the moment, but Brereton or Schmidt can tell
you, was sympathetic to this idea. Earl Warren, who was then
District Attorney of Alameda County and Vollmer were clone
friends. Warren, of course, because he was a lawyer, knew
about the value of education and it was due to the efforts
of these three men in the middle 1930 's the first Police
School — the School of Police Administration at San Jose
State began. That was the nucleus of police education and
traininr — these are two different words — that have
evolved into courses variously titled Police Science, Police
Administration, or even Criminology today, in over seventy
State and Junior colleges in the State of California. This
is more than is given in the other forty-nine states combined.
It's directly traceable to one man whose name was Vollmer and
this is no exaggeration I
JRH: I know Gene is Just going to be one of the people starting
the undergraduate program at this college and
HGLSTROM: That's right. Gene is getting ready to go to some place like
Trenton State College.
JRH: They've never had a Criminology program.
HOLSTROM: Ho, they've never had one. There is substantial expansion in
the country in the last very few years. It was brought about
in no srall measurement because the national and state admini
strations are concerned about crime in the streets. As every
body knows Congress has appropriated millions of dollars and
there are grants available. Money is attractive to the univer
sity administrators. This has quite a bit to do with the
establishment of some of these programs in many colleges and
universities in the country today.
JRH: I'm interested in moving on, it's getting later and I'm inte
rested in hearing what you have to say. Especially I'm inte
rested in the community and state activities.
32
HOLSTROM: Alright, you want to talk about community and state, and I
insist on reading this because I vent to all the trouble of
writing it down. "What kind of man was Vollmer and what did
he believe in?" Let me Just give you some things that I
chose to call Vollmer isms. These are short sentences. You
have to remember who they were beamed to; policemen in those
late afternoon departmental meetings. I Just Jotted down
three or four of them. This will show what kind of man he
was! "Kill them with kindness," teaching his policemen this,
you see. "Never hit a person except in self-defense; if you
do, you have Just resigned." "Never argue with a drunk or
a nut, you'll only lower yourself to his level, and you
never strike either one of them under any provocation."
"There could be more fair Justice disposed at the curbstone
than in some of the highest courts." "Keep them indebted to
you." And then I had another one in the area of anecdotes.
Did I tell you about the Jack Webb program?
JRH: Yes!
HOLSTROM: Alright, then I don't have to tell you that one again. Now
you want to move along because of the hour. In what ways,
you asked, was Vollmer influential in the community in Berkeley?
Well, at the outset he was elected to clean up Berkeley and he
did so. At least up to I960, bearing in mind that Berkeley
has been a changing community and the mores in some elements
of this community are different. But in the prohibition era as
a college student I knew that a bootlegger, unless he was
stupid, wouldn't come to Berkeley. The lads in the fraternity
houses on Piedmont Avenue met them on College and Claremont
because that was outside of Berkeley. There were no prostitutes
in Berkeley. I only remember two who were living here, but
working some place else, when I was a Lieutenant. I required
them to come in at ten o'clock one night and told them I ex
pected them to depart Berkeley at eight o'clock the next morning
and they did. That year might have been 1938, Just for example.
Prostitution, we didn't have; gambling, we even succeeded in
stopping card games in the Catholic church. Nobody has ever
done this except us that I know of, except Bill Parker, who was
Chief of Police of Los Angeles, and got the Archbishop to give
him a hand.
JRH: You were saying, though, over at the Oral History Department
that Warren was more interested in cracking down on illegal
bootleggers.
HOLSTROM: He was! He and Vollmer were of the same mind. What Vollmer did
was not to eradicate these kind of things , he simply pushed
them north and south. So when I was in college and
33
HOLSTROM: when I was a young policeman, there vere bootleggers,
gamblers , and prostitutes , in Emeryville on the main street ,
Park Street. In the early l?30's Warren went down with a
raiding party and not only put out of business the Chinese
gambling establishments. Under the direction of a man who
vas head of his corps of investigators, legal or not, they
chopped up the gambling tables as veil as some of the doors
and windows in those places and physically arrested scores
and scores of people. They were brought to the Berkeley
Jail because it was considered a little more secure than
some other places in the neighboring communities. Answer,
yes, Warren had something to do with community problems.
Now, was Vollmer influential in Berkeley? I think so! I
think he did initially what he thought the community wanted
done. I think that this continued into my own incumbency.
I think I did what I thought the community wanted done. I
won't take the time to recount anecdotes about gambling at
the Elk's Club and other places that happened Just once after
I became Chief of Police and never happened again, lior about
taking the slot machines out of the Elk's Club, but these all
stemmed from things that I thought Vollmer taught me, what I
thought the community wanted at that point. At that point,
for example, the Council of Churches was influential. I'm
not sure of this today. I think the community tended to follow
his leadership in these things rather than his attempting to
follow the community. He certainly was not permissive about
vice. I really don't know his total involvement in the COETU-
nity. I know that in 1931 he was the recipient of the Benjamin
Ide Wheeler award; which is given biarnually to the Berkeley
citizen who had made the greatest contribution to the community.
Paired after a fairous president of the University it still is
awarded. Vollmer, for the things he had done, was given this
award in 1931. I have the original letter that was written by
the City .'lanager then, who was Hollis Thompson to Dr. Herman
Swartz who was Chairman of the committee.
Influence on Alameda County! Well, today the Chief of Police
of Alameda is a recently retired Berkeley Police Captain. One
of his predecessors in Alameda, Vern Smith, was a Berkeley
policeman, wow, Berkeley has had a major influence on what has
happened in Oakland in the last 15 years because a man by the
name of Wynan Vernon became a Police Chief of Oakland and we,
he and I, had a very close relationship. Many of the things
he did to modernize Oakland grew out of what he knew about
Vollmer ideas, grew out of what he learned from O.W. Wilson
who he engaged as a consultant, and learned from his informal
conversations with our staff. Chief Vernon was only interested
in results and he didn't care where he got his ideas as long
as they were useful. He was not so proud that he couldn't ask
HOLSTROM: aonebody else. This is a little different than the vay some
people react. Vollmer had a major influence on policing in
Berkeley and Alaneda County, in California, in the United
States and to some extent internationally, just to summarize it.
JKH: Gene irentioned that he and Warren worked together. I don't
know whether it was when Warren was the District Attorney or
when Warren became Governor.
HOLSTBOM: Warren was District Attorney of Alameda County. He was Attorney
General of California and he was Governor of California; then
he was the Chief Justice.
JEK: At some point at any rate, did they work together to get legis
lation passed for progressive police activity? Was that during
the time when he was Attorney General or Governor?
HOLSTROM: Warren was not Attorney General until after Vollmer's retirement.
Ify own relationship with Warren as Attorney General and Governor
was a very close one. This is something, out of all these things
I did, I didn't invent, I inherited. I used to say to people I
didn't invent the Berkeley Police Department, I inherited it.
All I wanted to do was to try to leave it as good as I found it,
I like to think I did.
The development of the Ctate Bureau of Criminal Identification
and Investigation is recounted in Parker's book. The develop
ment that led to the establishment of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation grew out of Vollmer's activities, actually pre
ceded by activities of others ahead of him in the National
Bureau of Identification which was in existence at the time of
the landmark conference of the International Association of
Chiefs of Police in 1922 when Vollmer became its president.
Probably that's a landmark conference because there were estab
lished some study groups of police chiefs dedicated to improving
the police service and it was unquestionably due to Vollmer's
leadership at that conference.
I think I said it yesterday that he often spoke with some pride
about the accomplishment of the 1922 conference and I think I
said yesterday that we have here on the desk a copy today of
the proceedings of that conference.
JRK: Some of these groups kept working together for awhile and then
came up with recommendations and then they managed....
KOL£7:C:': Continue to today and the California Peace Cfficer's Association
has been an influential factor in legislation in Sacramento.
JKH: Would you say that this was his major interest, that he worked
through in getting through this much through these associations?
HOLSTRC": No, he worked througiany channel that >e felt was productive.
It might have been the legislature, members of it, a governor
or colleagues who worked on these various things, both at the
state and national level.
JKH: You mean other police, say in a state level, or somebody that
he had worked with that was in Sacramento?
HOLCTPCM: Gomebody from most any place. Today you may find during the
period of legislative meetings the police chiefs of the prin
cipal cities of California. You will find that the Peace
Officer's Association has a what's impolitely called a Lobbyist,
and is ixslitely called a Legislative Representative, on salary
in Sacramento. This is the vay it's done; it's done through
your own legislators, the Assemblymen and the Senators in
California. Today it's done in the current administration and
it's true of all of Governor Reagan's predecessors that I know
anythinp about. It goes back to Warren in my own personal
relationships with the Oovernor's staff. These are simply
channels .
JRK: You mean the Governor's staff would help you get, help get the
legislation they wanted to get through.
HOLSTRC They might ! It works the same way that national things are
done, through your Congressmen. It's done by policemen too
through their Congressmen. It's done by police, police chiefs,
police groups, Senators; all of them have staffs. It's done
through White House staff. This President has had groups of
police chiefs in to talk to him. The most recent one was a
group from the International Association of Chiefs of Police
of large cities. This is the way it works.
f
JRH: He used those sorts of channels.
HOLSTRCM: So did his successors, including this one.
JRH: Well, it's the same as social work.
HOLSTROM: You asked, if you want to move along, how did he relate to the
people with whom he dealt, to his friends. You will find these
people that you interview, his employees and his professional
colleague's had tremendous respect and admiration for this man,
mostly. Not everybody agreed with him. As I said yesterday,
he might have been a half a century ahead of his time, but
that creates problems, being ahead of his time.
36
KOLSTROM: How your final one here. But I have one other one about
relating to friends. After his death, his frienda established
the August Vollmer Memorial Scholarship Fund which is a scholar
ship fund here for undergraduate students in Criminology. That's
Just about the size of it.
JRH: I want to ask you one more thing that we noted up here. You
mentioned this Wickersham report. I know Gene mentioned it and
I was kind of interested in that.
HOLSTROM: We today have a significant series of documents which are the
results of the President's Commiosion on Law Enforcement and
the Administration of Justice. This is about a 1966 or so
effort of a Presidential Commission out of which grew the
Office of Law Enforcement Assistance and today's LEAA, which
means Law aiforcement Assistance Administration. It administers
these millions of dollars appropriated by Congress for grants
of various kinds. The only other national commission that has
been of this kind, bearing in mind this was 1966, was the Wicker-
sham Report which was published in 1930 or '29, based on efforts
in the proceeding three or four years. Vollmer probably wrote
most of the section on police and was a member of the Commission.
JP.H: Was that a national or state commission?
HOLSTRCI!: Presidential! Named after its chairman whose name was Wickersham
who might have been an Attorney General. But for years authors
cited the Wickersham Commission. Out of curiosity whenever I
rea<? a book , I used to thumb through it rapidly and look at the
footnotes. I did this as late as I960. In I960, if the footnotes
consisted of mostly references to the Wickershan report T con
cluded the author was Just a little bit out of date because I960
was thirty years after 1930. At least I don't see so many foot
notes about the Wickersham report any more , because now the
President's Commission of 1966 is cited.
I have one final comment about the Wickersham report that I
can't resist. One of the Berkeley police captains was the
author of the statement that he had been studying a great deal
of sociology in the 19^0 's and the 1950' s. He said that his
observation was that every time, and he was uncharitable about
sociologists although I don't have this feeling about them an
a class, a book that came out there was a rehash in the book
about the causes of crime unchanged since the Wickersham report
was written. He rather suspected that the Wickersham report
said all there was to say about it or that had been thought out.
That's all I have to say, ending on that sort of a note.
JRH: You have nothing else? You mentioned something about the KKK.
37
HOLSTRCM: I know nothing about Vollmer and the KKK. There is an inci
dent about World War I involving the IWW. It stood for "I
Won't V.'ork!" I don't know what the story was, but there was
a trek to Washington. Part of it originated in Qneryville
where a group of these people, (I suppose today we would call
them radicals, I don't know what they called them then),
gathered at the racetrack in Qneryville and they were going to
go to Washington and I have a very diir recollection that this
was a big event in Vollmer's professional career, but I cannot
tell you, I don't know, what the circumstances were. Some of
these older men that you're going to interview, Gordon or Wilson
may know.
I really don't have anything else. I have a number of papers
here and, as you know, they're listed in that supplement.
There is one other thing I should say, though, and this is on
the subject of Vollmer utilizing professional assistance very
early and I'm not sure whether it was a first or not. Along
about 1931 when I cane into the department there was a police
department psychiatrist, and this has been a very slow development
in the country. An old friend of Vollmer's whose name was
Hubert F.owell, an M.D. , was the psychiatrist when I got there.
He's had a number of successors and I think it had some influence
on Berkeley and Los Angeles in later years. The successor to
Dr. Rowell was a very extraordinary man, the late Dr. Douglas
Kelley, who was a member of the faculty in the 1950 's and then
his successor was a David Wilson. These men were all medical
doctors, all psychiatrists, all certified or diplomates. David
Wilson was also a faculty member. These men were used for two
purposes. Hot to be psychiatrist for policemen, as a matter of
fact I prohibited it. They were used for screening applicants
for the police department. And how successful was it? We
thought it was so successful that it persisted for a period at
least from 1930 to 1971. That's a fair period of time. There
was an early one referred to in Parker's book, whose name was
Ball, and I can't recall the unusual combination of first names
he had.
The second purpose they were used for, and this was particularly
true of Kelley because he had an ability in this direction was
to advise a policeman faced with a practical problem. The police
man in the field is the man who has the problem. Something
occurs and the policeman sometimes has to make a decision —
How emotionally disturbed is this person? Whether he's commlted
a crime or not, at least he's come to police attention. If he's
commited a crime, then a choice has to be made by this uniformed
patrolman (this is why you need intelligent people to be police
men). Do you take this nan the criminal Justice route, do you
3C
KOLDTFC?:: lock hir up, do you prosecute Mr, or do you, through an
orrangerent with the Alameda County facilities, take him to
the County Hospital? Or if the family can cfford it, do you
see to it that he goes the private psychiatric route? This
happens all the time, it's happening this week in Berkeley.
It certainly is happening In the drug scene that we see here
now. So these departmental psychiatrists have "been useful to us.
How close was the relationship then? Close enough that at one
stage in the 1950 's at Dr. Kelley's invitation I appeared on
the programs of two conferences of the American Psychiatric
Association, not because I was a psychiatrist, because I wasn't.
I was a layman, but because I had some Insight as a layman
into the potential value of psychiatry applied to, and I prefer
this phrase, the administration of Justice. I use the word
Justice In its very broadest and most proper sense. Justice to
the individual and Justice to the community.
JRH: That's interesting because I get these practical decision-making
problems in my work too. It's a very difficult situation.
KOLSTPOM: Very difficult to find a psychiatrist who's willing to serve at
wages or salaries that can be paid by a city or a county and who
is interested and who can communicate with policemen; because
not all psychiatrists are easy to communicate with and perhaps
not all policemen.
JF.H: Having worked in them I know that County Hospitals do have a
terrible tir.e getting competent psychiatric people. The big
problems come from poor working conditions and low salaries.
HOLSTPOM: Extremely difficult! I know a number of psychiatrists and
have had a lot of exposure to them. I've found a few that
I can connunicate with, and fewer than that that I have any
confidence in, but I know some. I'm not one of those people
that think all psychiatrist are peculiar. I have great respect
for them if they are effective. That is if they can do some
good for their patients.
JRH: The only thing you didn't mention but you said you were thinking
of mentioning, and that was you associated with Vollmer up to
the time that he died. I don't know if you want to talk about
that.
HOLSTFc You've asked me whether I wanted to talk about Vollmer 's death
and I don't see why not. I know about it. He was 79 when he
died and I had seen him frequently. There were three other
people who I know of who are familiar with the events that led
up to it. One of their is Dr. George Oulton, a dentist, whose
name you have in the summary. The other was the late Captain
39
HOLSTROM: Walter Johnson, whose widow is still alive and whose name
you do not have. They were close friends. We were aware,
because he told us separately, that he knew in his very
late years that he had cancer, at least cancer of the throat.
He knew and it was obvious even to a layman that he had
Parkinson's Disease and had developed a tremor of the hands.
There is another man who knows about this but he nay be pro
hibited by professional ethics about talking about it — you'd
have to ask him. His name is Dr. William Marsh, who's still
in practice. Probably one of my contemporaries, if not a
little younger, who was told also.
Vollner told each of us. He said that he would never becojre a
bed patient , a person who would be helpless and a concern to
other people. Why he said this, I don't know. I know that he
was a man that had a great deal of pride. He had a great deal
of pride in his athletic ability, in his appearance, in his
mental and physical competence; but I don't know what his true
motivation was. That's all he said to me at least. He didn't
ever intend to be a bed patient. I've been trying to remember
what the circumstances were and I don't exactly, but among the
four of us, we thought he probably would suicide based on what
he said about never becoming a bed patient. When he said
something you could depend upon it and he usually meant it.
JFH : How longwas he ...
HOLSTROM: How long was he aware that he had cancer and Parkinson's Disease?
JRH: Yes.
HOLSTF.OM: I don't know, a year or so, but it wasn't bad. And so in some
fashion, I was then the Police Chief and I don't think I did it
personally, his revolver was removed from his study and moved
up to my desk drawer. I had it for a matter of a good many
days, maybe a few weeks. One morning the phone rang and he
said, 'John, you have my revolver" and I said, "Yes Sir." "I
would appreciate it if you'd return it; it's mine." I said,
''I'll bring it up myself1 and I did and without comment handed
it to him and all he said was, "Thank you."
Within a matter of weeks as she later told the story, he helped
his long-time housekeeper make the beds and went down to his
study, stepped out in the hall at the foot of the stairs and
said to her, 'You'd better call the police'' and he shot himself.
That was that. He was dead upon arrival at the hospital. T was
immediately aware before ever the ambulance got there and said
to then Captain Fording, ''I'm not surprised.1' He said, 'I'm
not either.'
1*0
JIOLSTF We anticipated it and I suppose there are a couple of subse
quent comments: this highly distressed some of vy Catholic
friends who knew him because it is contrary to some Catholic
teaching to take your own life. The fact that he villed his
body to the Medical Center of the University of California
in San Francisco distressed some more people. The fact that
there was no funeral highly distressed some of our mutual
friends who were Chinese and totally unable to understand why
there was no funeral.
JKII: Was he buried or cremated or...
HOLSTTOM: His body went to the Medical Center. I didn't go over to see
what they did with it. There was no memorial service. Then
I remembered that I didn't ever know of his ever attending a
funeral and I never thought to ask him why. But he had no
funeral. J'y Chinese friends and his were upset.
The final part of this was he had totally prepared for this. I
told you about giving his books to the police department. V.'e
had made arrangements so he would retain custody while he lived.
His papers and documents had already been delivered to Bancroft
Library because he had enough academic appreciation to know that
that was the best place to put them if they had any interest to
anyone.
Another thing happened which I suppose only a policeman would
think of, but we had done it before and it's been done since.
Invariably if we thought any of our people upon death had files
which might have any information about individuals, personal
intimate information, we'd always inspect them. The years I
had any authority down there and since, it was one of our first
roves to get hold of a witness and get permission to review
those files. I personally reviewed Vollirer's files. They had
been corpletely cleared. He had lots of correspondence with
people and a world-wide correspondence continued to influence
the field particularly young men with whom he was associated.
Those files were clear.
JF.H: You mean he didn't have anything confidential or...
i:GLSlF:OM: He removed then before I got there. This has happened in ti c
case of other people too, people I knew had extensive files.
At least it was some consolation to me as a self-appointed
searcher to know that no one was going to be hurt personally
by any loose papers kicking around. He had prepared for this.
He had spent months getting things in order.
Ill
liOLSTR . Gince, as I've told you, I've tried, not very successfully,
to have a fev students, in the limited time available do some
term papers about the history of the department. None of them
are very good. At least they're on paper and the department
has them. You have a list of them.
JRH: There's Just one thing briefly, because of my own background.
I noticed that he was a Unitarian . Ify parents are Unitarian.
I was curious whether he was active in the church? And did
that influence his thinking?
IIGLOli-J!': I know nothing about this.
JRH: Because it would be in line...
HOLSTRC"; I didn't even know he was a Unitarian until I happened to look
at the ''Who's Who1' excerpt that you have accompaning the Tupple-
ment.
JT!K: So he wasn't particularly a church-going man.
HOLSTROM: I don't know.
JRH: You Just don't know, because it wouldn't be that, it would be
much nearer to a Unitarians' philosophy the way he ended his
life.
HOLSTRO!!: I knov nothing about his religion . All I know is he was a rr.an
of very high principle. I'm not sure that that's very far away
from religion. That's about all I can tell you, Miss Howard.
JPH:
That's good enough, we'll stop it now.
INDEX John D. Holstrom
Alaraeda, 29, 33, &
Anchorage, Alaska, 28
Austero, Vivencio, 28
Berkeley, City of, 17, 19, 26, '32, 33, 3**
City Clerk, 3
City Manager, 29, 33
City Marshal, 6, l6
Hall of Justice, 7, 15
Police Department, 1, 2-5, 9, 11, l6, 19, 2U, 25-26, 38, 33,
Police, Press Corps, 20-21
Press Officer, 21
Record Department , 2U
Regulations, 25
Police Transportation, 30
Berkeley Police Story. The, 16
Black, Jack, W
Block, Ernest, 7
Elks' Club, 33
England , 9
Eureka, City of, 29
Feng, Yukon, 9
Fresno, 13-11*
Fry, Amelia, 2
Gain, Charles, 19
Germany, 9
Gordon, Walter, 5, 18
Greening, John A., 11, lU, 15, 21, 28, 29
Japan , 28
Kansas City, 28
Kelley, Dr. Douglas, 9
Kirk, Paul, 30
Klamath Falls, 29
Knowland, Joseph R. , 20
Lindquist, John, 28
McLaren, Roy, 29
Manteca, City of, 29
Marsh, William, 39
Mathesen, Duncan, 12
Medford, Oregon, 29
Mexican-American community, 8
Military Occupation Forces, Germany, 30
National Bureau of Identification, 31*
Negro community, 8
Newspapers
Berkeley Gazette, 6, 20, 21
Oakland Post Inquirer, 21
Oakland Tribune. 20, 21
^•n Francisco Chronicle, 21
San Francisco Examiner. 21
Oakland, City of, 17, 18
Police Department, 19, 2U, 33
Prohibition, 32
Prostitution, 32
Oulton, Dr. George, 6, 38
Parker, Alfred E. , 3, 10, 16, 17, 22
Parker, Bill, 32
Peace Officers' Association, 35
Police procedures, 21, 2U-27
Police of the 20th Century. The, 22
President's Commission on Lav Enforcement and the Administration
of Justice, 36
Proceedings of the 1922 Conference of LACOP in San Francisco, 3, 31*
Quinn, Bill, 11
Regional Parks, 5
Richardson, Friend, 6
Ross, City of, 29
Rowell, Hubert, 37
Sacramento, City of, 12, 31*
San Francisco, City of, 18, 19
Chinese community, 9
Chief of Police, 11
Police Department, 11-13, 2U
Robbery Detail, 13
San Francisco Exposition, 1915, 11
San Francisco Fair of 1939, 11
San Jose State College
School of Police Administration, 31
San Quentin, 23-21*
San Rafael, City of, 28
Santa Barbara, City of, 29
Schmidt, Willard, 31
Seattle, City of, 29
Sickler, Lt. Britton W. , 29
Smith, Bruce Sr. , 29
Smith, Vern, 33
Spanish-American War, 16
Spenger, Frank Sr. , 17
Sproul , Robert Gordon , 30
State Police Officers Conference, 13
Sutherland , 2U
Swartz, Herman, 33
Taiwan, 9
Tennessee, State of, 17
Third Degree, 2U-25
Thompson, Hollis, 33
Trenton State College, 31
Unitarian Church, Ul
United States of America, The, 31*
Treasury Department, 29
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 3^*
University of California, The, 1, 10, 17, 18, 19
Bancroft Library, 12, 1*0
Political Science Department, 1, 9
School of Criminology, 1, 9, 18, 19, 28, 30
Police Administration, U
School of Social Welfare, 7
Institute of Governmental Studies, 28
Medical Center, San Francisco, UO
University of Chicago, The, 10, 25
Vernon, Wyman, 33
Vollmer , August , Memorial Scholarship Fund , 36
Vollmer Peak, 5
Walnut Creek, City of, 28
Warren, Earl, 31, 32-33, 31*
Webb, Jack, 9
Whaley, Lt. Henry F. , 29
What's Wrong vith Cops?, 7
Wheeler [Benjamin Ide] Award, 33
Who's Who. 2
Wickersham Report, 25, 36
Wilson, David, 37
Wilson, Orlando W. , 8, 26, 28, 29-30, 33
Woods, Inspector A.S.J., 28
You Can't Win, 2k
Young, Richard, 29
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Orlando W. Wilson, born 1900, was interviewed by Jane Howard as part
of a series on the personal and professional life of August Vollmer.
Mr. Wilson, former Dean of the School of Criminology at the University of
California, Berkeley, and protege of August Vollmer, brings the perspective
of a long and distinguished career in law enforcement to the interview.
Interviewer:
Time and Setting
of the Interview:
Editing:
Narrative Account
of Mr. Wilson and
the Progress of
the Interview:
Jane Howard
Two interviews were conducted with Mr. Wilson on July 2,
1971, in his modern ranch house in Poway, California, a
small town about 60 miles outside of San Diego. The
first interview, conducted with Mr. Wilson alone, began
around 11 a.m. and concluded at approximately 12 noon.
The second, with co- interviewer John Holstrom, a
professional colleague of Vollmer and Wilson and advisor
to the project, ran from about 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Editing of the transcribed taped interviews was done by
Jane Howard. Changes were very minimal on both tapes.
Mr. Wilson reviewed and made only e few minor spelling
and punctuation changes on both interviews.
Mr. Holstrom also reviewed the Joint tape; he made a few
minor editorial changes.
O.W. Wilson, born in 1900, received a B.A. degree from the
University of California at Berkeley in 192k. He served
as a "college cop" part-time from 1921 and Joined the
Berkeley Police Department fulltime on graduation from
Berkeley. After four years under Vollmer, he went on to
become Police Chief of Fullerton, and then Wichita,
Kansas, both on Vollmer 's recommendation.
Wilson returned to Berkeley in 1939 as a professor of
police administration at the School of Criminology and
remained there, with time out for service in the army
during World War II, until I960. He served as Dean of
the School of Criminology from 1950-60.
In I960 he went to Chicago, at Mayor Daley's request, and
was very successful in reforming the Chicago Police
Department. He also did intermittent police consulting
from 19^8-67, conducting many police surveys throughout
the country.
ii
Orlando W. Wilson (contd.)
Mr. Wilson has lived in Povay, California, since bis
retirement in
The first tape follows the questionnaire outline quite
closely; Mr. Wilson had prepared notes in advance in
response to the questions. Additional questions were,
however, raised during the interview.
Mr. Wilson reviews his reasons for Joining the Berkeley
Police Department and his rapid rise to the position,
Chief of the Wichita, Kansas Police Department. He
discusses the "crab meetings," Vollmer's weekly staff
sessions, and other training provided to the Berkeley
staff. Wilson states that he felt Mr. Vollmer's out
standing characteristics were administrative and leader
ship ability, racial tolerance and openness to all ex
periences, good and bad.
The interview turns to consider the relationship between
Wilson and Vollmer. Wilson says he always felt he was
a student of Vollmer's, and that he received excellent
advice over the years, by mail and in person, from
Vollmer .
Mr. Wilson tells anecdotes: about a visit to a burlesque
house, about Mr. Vollmer's interest in the criminal
world and psychiatry. He mentions Vollmer's first wife
briefly. Mr. Wilson discusses Vollmer's honesty and
integrity.
Mr. Wilson considers Vollmer's influence in the state,
particularly in establishing the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation and the Department of
Corrections.
The interviewer raises questions to Mr. Wilson on
Earl Warren's relation to Vollmer, the Klu Klux JQan and
J. Edgar Hoover; Mr. Wilson had limited knowledge about
these connections. The discussion touches on Vollmer's
second wife.
The second interview, with Mr. Holstrom as co-interviewer,
is brief. Mr. Holstrom raises a number of questions
to Mr. Wilson. He asks how Mr. Wilson came to Join the
police department , and about whether problems were created
by using college students as policemen. Mr. Holstrom
asks Mr. Wilson whether he felt his book, Police
Administration , was his own thinking or Vollmer's.
Wilson: This is Orlando W. Wilson, July 2nd 1971 at Poway, California,
reporting on ay relationship with August Vollmer.
I came to know August Vollmer first when I took an examina
tion for a Job as patrolman in the Berkeley Department. This
was in the early spring of 1921. Vollmer had inserted an
advertisement in the Daily Cal. the University newspaper,
urging college students who were interested, to make appli
cation for position of patrolman in his Department. I took
the examination and in May 1921 was appointed patrolman.
JRH: I'm curious to ask you why you took this examination because
I guess it was so unusual in those days for college students
to become policemen. Why did you respond to the ad or what
attracted you to doing it?
Wilson: It was an intelligence test and the University had adminis
tered an intelligence test to the freshmen class and apparently
I came out of this test with good marks so I decided this
would be an easy way to get a Job.
JRH: You didn't have your career planned before this?
Wilson: Oh no, not at all nor did I have it set after having worked
in the Berkeley Department for four years. But, my experi
ences as a novice policeman were interesting to me, probably
to no one else and I worked with Vollmer and became well
acquainted with him because of his friendly relationships
with his employees. Not only did I become well acquainted
with Vollmer, but also his wife Millicent , whome we all knew
as Pat. The years I spent in the Berkeley Department, a
total of about four, were not uneventful for me but of no
great concern.
Following my graduation, Vollmer, who was eager to get
college trained men into police service, suggested that I
should apply for the Job of Chief of Police at Fullerton.
Wilson: This I did and I believe in April 1925 1 was appointed Chief
there. This lasted no more than 12 months. He then, through
his acquaintanceship with Lee Phillips, a high executive or
perhaps President of Pacific Finance Corporation, got me a
Job as an investigator with this organization and I continued
this until the City Manager of Wichita, Kansas, called Chief
Vollmer and said he needed someone to serve as Chief of Police
and asked Vollmer if he could recommend someone. Vollmer
recommended me and I had some letter correspondence with this
City Manager but this was too slov for the City Manager because
he wanted someone right new and finally called Vollmer and
explained the situation. Vollmer called me and said, "Do you
want that Job or don't you?" I told hiia yes I did. I felt
that I should look the situation over before I accepted and
determine if the conditions of employment were to my liking.
I went to Wichita and before I left, was appointed Chief of
Police of that city. Rather young for a city of that size,
I had not yet turned 28, but I conferred with Vollmer on
vacation trips that I would take and I corresponded with him
regularly.
JRH: You mean while you were in Fullerton or at Wichita?
Wilson: Both, but particularly Wichita. He advised me and he was a
prolific letter writer and would write two and three page
letters in response to questions that I asked. I got a great
deal of helpful advice from him.
(Turning his attention to the questionnaire, in response to
question #1.) First, you may wonder what impact he had on
my personal and professional life. I must say he had a
great impact. On my personal life, as an impressionable
youth, I was influenced by the philosophy of this great man.
As I have mentioned, he did succeed in getting me the Wichita
Job and then later as his replacement as Professor of Police
Administration at the University of California in 1939,
after I had spent eleven years at Wichita.
JHH: I wanted to ask you as part of questions one and two, do you
remember the first time you met him?
Wilson: Yes, clearly. He was an imposing figure, proud of his attire.
He dressed almost immaculately. I don't mean that he was
foppish in his attire but he was always well dressed. He
never would smoke in his office because to do so might offend
some woman or some person who was allergic to tobacco smoke.
Wilson: Ke would work at his desk and naybe at the end of an hour,
get up and go to the Squad Room and smoke one of these
small cigarillos. This is one evidence of the regard he
had for other people.
He held what he called "crab meetings" every Friday after
noon and some of these were extrer.ely interesting. Ke had
a detective, Gus Mehrtens, who was a graduate chemist and
apparently a very capable detective and a small man in terms
of the height one usually finds associated with policemen.
Vollmer would try to get into these crab meetings, ex-convicts,
narcotic addicts or anyone that he felt would be helpful to
the men to see and to discuss the problems, crime problems,
and the life of the individual. On one occasion, a man came
along who was a phrenologist and maintained that he could,
by feeling the bumps on a man's head, tell his character.
Chief Vollner set the stage for this phrenologist by getting
Cus Mehrtens dressed up in old dungarees and an old sweatshirt
and he locked him up in the cell. When the phrenologist
came and gave his little talk on phrenology, the Chief asked
him if he would like a subject to work on Just as an example
and he said yes and Vollmer said, "Well we have a fellow that
interests me, but he's locked up in one of the cells." Ke
ordered the Turnkey to let this fellow out and Mehrtens came
in. Of course, all of us were informed of this play so we
wouldn't give it away. The phrenologist sat Mehrtens down in
a chair and felt his bumps. Incidentally, he was Just about
completely bald so he was a perfect subject. Ke then told
why this man was a confirmed criminal. That he would never
be a useful citizen and Just painted the most pessimistic
picture with the diagnosis of the bumps on Kehrtens' head.
We often laughed over this incident, but this is an example
of some of the things Vollmer would do.
He would take students and some of his policemen to mental
institutions in the summertime, students who were enrolled
in some course during the summer session at the University,
and they'd bring out various patients and the doctor there
would explain the nature of what the difficulty was so that
we got acquainted with various types of mental illness.
Vollmer always urged his policemen to enroll at the Univer
sity and study.
(Response to question #2. ) This brings us up to the question
of what kind of a man Vollmer was. I guess I could best des
cribe him as being primarily an executive, a leader of men.
Wilson: He had the ability to win the confidence of not only his
subordinates but all people he dealt with. He inspired in
his subordinates a loyalty not only to him as a leader but
to the organization and to the ideals of police service.
He had courage. I can recall that he would always keep in
the top drawer of his desk his service gun and anytime he
left headquarters, he would slip this in his pocket. He
was an excellent shot and was able to stand a playing card
on edge and at ten paces, split it with a bullet, which is
considerable shooting.
We had a prisoner who escaped in some way; I've forgotten
the details. Vollmer and others at headquarters immediately
ran out after him and this prisoner sought refuge in the
coal yard. As they were trying to apprehend him he picked
up pieces of coal and threw at the people. While I was not
there, I was told that Vollmer shot a piece of coal out of
the prisoner's hand but not before he had hit Vollmer on the
side of the face with a lump of coal.
I learned something of his philosophy of life. He felt that
life is nothing but experience and that whether it be good or
bad, whether exemplary or filled with mistakes, Vollmer always
typified it as being experience and in consequence, all for
the good. He had a rule, never to say anything bad about a
man. I heard him once say that if you can't say something
good about a man, don't say anything. When he held a seminar
at the University and lecture classes as well, he gave up
smoking because it caused him to cough and he felt that was
unfair to his students. He adopted the practice in his semi
nar of going out for coffee at the end of the seminar, I guess
about 10 o'clock. The students would ask him to tell stories
and he was an excellent raconteur. He could keep them spell
bound with stories of cases that he had worked on and of the
lives of criminals he had known.
He was racially unprejudiced. Walter Gordon, one of Berkeley's
football greats, was a patrolman at this time in Berkeley and
Vollmer made this appointment because he recognized the fine
qualities of Walter Gordon. There were in those days, no
social pressures to appoint minority groups to police forces
as there have been in more recent years. He worked closely
with Gordon and I hope you can get Walter Gordon to talk about
Vollmer.
JRH: Bancroft Library is supposed to interview him. I'm interested
in two things. First, Chief Holstrom mentioned that Vollmer
sometimes had boxing matches .
Wilson: I'm not aware of that. However he did have a yawara or Judo
expert who trained members of the department. I think this
was done principally in the high school gym, not at police
headquarters.
JRH: Apparently he was a very athletic man. Did he encourage
athletics? I get the impression more from Parker than from
Holstrom that this had something to do with the fact that he
was proud of his appearance and very athletic. Did that
seem so, or do you recall anything in relation to that kind
of activity?
Wilson: Not in relation to his athletic activities that I am person
ally aware of, although I did know that he was a great
swimmer and I think he played handball with Chief Dullea of
San Francisco but I never saw any of his athletic activities.
JRH: So it wasn't something that dominated, something that was
noticeable?
Wilson: No.
JRH: I'm also curious about the question of the impact he had on
your personal life. In that time when you were working in
the Berkeley Police Department, I want to get a sense of how
he encouraged you because you weren't really set on a career
in police work at all when you started working for the Depart
ment. Can you give me a better idea of how he influenced
you to stay in that work? Did you meet with him socially a
lot? Did you meet with him in his office a lot? How did he
get you into it?
Wilson: Neither. I would drive Chief Vollmer and his wife Pat because
he didn't drive a car himself.
JRH: How come?
Wilson: Never learned to drive and he had no desire to drive. I would
drive them to places and I got a chance to visit with them,
they would sit in the back seat. Until later, when I returned
to Berkeley as a professor, I had no social life with him as
such nor can I recall going into his office and sitting in a
chair. The contacts and relationships were more related to
activities in the normal routine day of work.
JRH: At what point do you think you were committed to staying in
police work?
Wilson: After I got to Wichita and not beforel
JRH: One thing Gene Carte was particularly interested in asking
you about was that he has been reading some of the corres
pondence in Bancroft Library, they have a lot of his personal
papers, between Vollmer and you, when he was urging you to
go on to Harvard. One of the letters said that the future
of policing is in having educated police and that you should
really take this kind of academic post. He was interested in
knowing a little bit about whether these letters between you
and him had a lot of influence on your decision to continue
on with police work and go on to Harvard. Was this relation
ship with Vollmer quite important to you in staying in the
field or encouraging you to go on to a higher position?
Wilson: Oh yes, certainly it was. Anytime I was up against a decision
such as should I go to Harvard, I would write him and he would
advise me, as he did, to go. I had my year at Harvard but it
wasn't really on the faculty, it was the Bureau for Street
Traffic Research, then under Miller McClintock who I think
later went to Germany and assisted Adolph Hitler in the con
struction of the Autobahn.
JRH: You mentioned that when you went to Wichita you wrote him on
how to handle police problems.
Wilson: Yes. Anytime I was confronted with a problem I'd write him
a letter. Administration by correspondence they'd call it.
JRH: I take it he gave you very thorough and thoughtful kinds of
answers.
Wilson: Oh yes, two and three page letters.
JRH: Did you work with Vollmer and Leonard to some extent? What
was the relationship between you?
Wilson: I was never closely associated with V.A. Leonard. He was
Identification Officer in the San Diego Department after
Chief Vollmer had made a survey and re-organization of that
department. He returned to Berkeley I think about the last
year of my service there. As I recall, he served as Identifi
cation Officer there so I didn't have close contact with him.
JRH: So mostly he was somewhat close to Vollmer but independently
and not so much with you. Was it that Vollmer was about 20
years older than you? He was born in 1876.
Wilson: I was born in 1900, so he was 2k years my senior.
JRH: By the time you came back to Berkeley you were certainly an
authority in the field in your own right and I was wondering
if you always continued to consider yourself sort of a student
of Vollmer's or whether you considered yourself more of his
peer as time went on?
Wilson: I never reached that point. Upon my return to the University
I was guided by him in the preparation of lectures. When I
wrote police records and later on and more significantly
police administration, Vollner was a tremendous assistance
to me in the preparation of this text. I would discuss with
him at great length some of the problems that had to be dealt
with in this book so the book, in a very real sense, is a
reflection of August Vollmer's thinking.
(Response to question #3.) Now as to anecdotes and stories,
Chief Vollmer loved fun, I found in later years, although I
had heard some stories about his pranks — I guess that isn't
quite the right term — as a younger man. When he was re
organizing the Kanaas City department in the early 30' s, I
was at Wichita and on a couple of occasions drove to Kansas
City and visited with him. I can recall that on one occasion
he and Pat took me to the 12th Street Burlesque which was a
very famous burlesque theater. We all enjoyed this experience
a great deal. This is the kind of thing he would do. Later,
when he worked on the Wickersham Commission Report in Chicago
and was then on the staff of the University of Chicago, I
visited him there from Wichita and I can recall he and his
wife and myself going out in the evening on the train and he
would point out certain well dressed men in derbies , white
silk scarves, velvet collars on blue topcoats and wearing
gray spats, that here was a gangster! I expect he was right.
JRH: Is it true that he had a fascination with criminal elements
and that he was very effective in dealing with crime, but
that he also in a way was interested in it?
Wilson: I should have mentioned that as a small boy he was in New
Orleans living with his then widowed mother when the
Superintendent of Police of New Orleans was assasinated by
the Black Hand. Shortly after that he and his mother came
by train to Berkeley and on the train with them was the
widow of the assasinated superintendent, so I feel certain
that this must have had a strong impact on him. I can re
call his mother's home on Milvia Street and he lived there
with her, I think up until the time that he married Pat,
his wife, that I knew so well.
JRH:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
How old was he when he married, do you remember?
It was his second marriage. That would have been about 1925
because I recall as a patrolman picking them up and driving
them places.
So he was almost 55 when he remarried?
Close to 50 I'd say.
I heard he married briefly earlier.
Yes. To a concert singer. She was apparently more interested
in the stage and concert work than she was in Vollmer and
they separated.
Do you know how long he was married to her? Or when?
No I don't. But I think rather briefly,
nor did he have any with Pat.
They had no children
After I Joined the faculty at the University I can recall his
telling that he and Captain Kidd, who was the criminal law
professor at Boalt Hall and Dr. Don Juan Ball, a psychiatrist,
went with their wives on a camping trip in the Redwoods and
he was laughing about some of their experiences. He said
they'd pick out a tree that seemed a little abnormal and
decide that that was a schizophrenic tree and go on to
another which would be paranoic, etc.
He was very interested in psychiatric problems?
Yes he was and had psychiatric examinations for applicants to
the department, when I was appointed at least. You mentioned
his association with criminals. I can recall his telling me
about how he would keep in his desk drawer at headquarters
a bottle of whiskey and when they had some old drunk who had
sobered up the night before and were about to release him
without running him through court , Vollner would bring him
into his office and pour him a good stiff drink before turning
him out.
JRH:
Was he a social man; it sounds like he was.
drinking?
Did he like
Wilson: Yes, and he liked parties and he told me on occasion that he
had never gambled because his mother, for some reason, was
opposed to gambling and his mother apparently played some
influence on his life because he vent on to say that anytime
he would call on his mother she'd get out the liquor bottle
and they would sit there visiting and drinking.
I also recall his telling about his experiences at the time
of the San Francisco fire and earthquake when hundreds and
hundreds of refugees came to Berkeley and he had the respon
sibility of maintaining order.
JRH: It was right after he became Chief.
Wilson: Yes, it was 1906 I believe.
JRH: He was Town Marshal in 1905-
Wilson: I thought it was earlier than that.
JRH: Let me check. It was 1903 when he became Town Marshal.
Wilson: When did he become Chief of Police?
JRH: 1909 and I remember why because it had to do with passing the
charter amendment but he was essentially Chief from 1905 on.
Wilson: (Response to question
The question is asked what was
Vollmer's professional impact? I wrote a forward for Al
Parker's book on the Berkeley Police Story and I'm simply
going to read from it as I think this states it much better
than I could say.
JRH: Actually though, what we're interested in is what's not been
recorded somewhere so if that's the introduction you used in
the book we wouldn't really need to put it in.
Wilson: No, I'd Just read a page and a half of it.
JRH: We don't need that particularly but what we want is what
people have in their heads and we're hoping that someone may
want to do a doctoral thesis or a master's thesis on Vollmer.
They would have access to written material but we want to
have tapes of what people have said about Vollmer.
Wilson: Well, then we'll Just skip item U.
10
JRH: Chief Holstrom and I didn't go into that too much either,
because it doesn't have too much to do with what the man
vas like, except in a sense a man's principles have to do
with what kind of a man you are. For instance, Holstrom
and I talked a lot about the sense of honesty people got
from him or a sense of integrity and in that sense we'd be
interested in knowing some of the principles that he stood
for.
Wilson: He certainly stood for complete honesty and I think this
perhaps was one of the reasons he got along with the press
so well. He was completely frank with them and if anything
occurred, he'd bring them into his office and tell them about
it rather than having them dig it out and getting it in a
slanted way. I can recall, as a matter of fact while a
patrolman. . .no, I guess it was while I was at Fuller-ton, I
went with him to the San Francisco Department for some reason.
He introduced me to a man there and he said, "O.W., if you
took this man completely apart, you wouldn't be able to find
a crooked bone in his body — he's that honest." I was never
sure then or since then whether he didn't make this statement
with his tongue in cheek.
JRH: What do you think made him that way? Why do you think he
developed to be a man with such high ideals?
Wilson: I don't know. I've never met his mother but he lived with
her from the time they arrived from New Orleans until his
first marriage whenever that was, and I think after his
separation. I am confident that she was an influence to him
and may have instilled in him concepts of honesty such as
the one he did mention that he had never gambled in his life
and I'm sure his mother influenced him to this determination.
I presume she left other ideals implanted in his mind as well.
JRH: This reminds me. You mentioned that his mother was opposed
to gambling. In his biography they had in Who's Who in the
West, that he listed himself as a Unitarian. That religion
wouldn't usually exclude gambling, but do you know anything
about his religious background or do you know if his mother
was a Unitarian?
Wilson: I have no idea. I also had no idea that Chief Vollmer had
ever declared that he was a Unitarian. As a matter of fact,
I had thought that he probably had never set foot in a church
in his life.
11
JRH: Well, that's the least religious church, so maybe that's why
he listed it. And maybe his mother's position on gambling
was related to being a Baptist or something like that. Did
you know his mother?
Wilson: No I didn't.
(Response to question HI.) Vollraer vas influential and in
volved in some State events that had a strong impact on the
development of the law enforcement agencies in California.
Particularly in the enactment of legislation to authorize
the establishment of the Bureau of Identification as it was
originally called and the title later may have been the
Bureau of Identification and Investigation. Vollmer played
an important role in the development of this Bureau and
again, as he did with so many people, he advised the head of
the Bureau, I think a man named Clarence Merrill, on the
development of this new agency and this relationship con
tinued after Clarence Merrill passed away and his son was
appointed to replace him as head of the Bureau.
JRH: We understand this was a new idea and we were wondering how
he got it accomplished? Was he a charming man and how did
he do it? Who did he talk to or influence?
Wilson: I have no idea. I could only conjecture that he must have
talked to legislators, but whether he went to Sacramento for
this or whether they may have called in his office, I don't
know.
JRH: Do you know of other things that he got accomplished?
Wilson: I think he played a part in the development in the Department
of Corrections. He was very much concerned with penology as
such: correctional institutions, and the state prisons gene
rally. He seemed to hold some hope for the rehabilitation of
the inmates in much larger proportions than I was ever con
vinced of myself. In those years, after he retired as Chief,
and I'm sure this occurred while he was Chief, be would have
police officials and correctional officials call at his home
and discuss problems much as I did in correspondence while at
Wichita. I can recall a group from the Los Angeles Police
Department coming to Berkeley in a Marmon automobile. I'm
not sure of the date but they came to discuss problems with
him and I'm sure he advised them on what they should do. He
reorganized the Los Angeles Department in I think 1922 or
thereabouts and he had a close working relationship with
whoever was Chief and the men he worked so closely with in the
course of this reorganization.
12
JRU: We were interested in his relationship with Earl Warren both
when Warren was Assistant D.A. and then when he became Attor
ney General and Governor and the Bancroft Library is also
interested in this because they're doing a history of Warren.
Wilson: I can recall my first sight of Earl Warren. He vas the
Assistant D.A. assigned to Berkeley and worked in the Berkeley
Police Headquarters.
JRH: He became Assistant D.A. in 1923. Was that where he was
assigned for the two years, the whole time was Assistant D.A.?
Wilson: I don't know how long, but about that time he was an imposing
looking youngish man and he'd stand with his thumbs in his
vest sleeves and had a gold chain across his vest. He wore
blue clothes. He was interested in the success of the Berke
ley Department in dealing with their criminal cases. Then he
became D.A. of Alameda County and it seems to me that he
served there eight years.
JRH: 1925 to 1938 — 7 years.
Wilson: Then he became Attorney General and then Governor and then
Chief Justice. We'll skip that because it's an unhappy re
collection that I have of the last days of Earl Warren. It
makes me unhappy everytime I think about them.
JRH: When Warren was still D.A. in Alameda, from what Bancroft
Library has learned, there was a difference in attitude bet
ween Vbllmer and Warren on enforcement of prohibition. Do
you know anything about that?
Wilson: Prohibition went out about that time about 1933 and he became
District Attorney in 1925. I could believe that there were
differences and I don't know Earl Warren's views on prohibi
tion but I think Vollmer was opposed to it. He felt that this
was doing a great damage to law enforcement , as in fact it was ,
and it created a situation where police could be corrupted.
As I say, I am not aware of Earl Warren's attitude toward
prohibition.
JRH: Had you heard Vollmer at any time talk about the Ku Klux Klan
since they were still active in the mid-20 's?
Wilson: Ho, I have no recollection of this but knowing his complete
lack of prejudice I am confident that he would be opposed to
the principles of the Ku Klux Klan.
13
JRH: Another thing he worked with Warren on was when there was
gambling and an off-track betting scandal later on when
Warren was Governor, like about 19*»2. Warren had a Crime
Commission in 19^8 against gambling and off-track betting.
Do you know if Vollmer was at all involved in that Commission?
Wilson: He would have been retired from the University nine years by
then which meant that he was getting on in years. I have no
recollection of this Commission.
JRH: Do you know any more about when Warren was Governor? We're
curious about the relationship between the two and generally
did they become friends when Warren became D.A. and if they
continued to work together and in what ways.
Wilson: I simply don't have any first hand information at all nor any
scuttle-butt.
JRH: You Just don't know much about how Warren and Vollmer were
together?
Wilson: No.
JRH: One other historical event. There was a general strike in
193U and do you know about Vollmer 's involvement with that?
Wilson: That was the waterfront strike. I don't recall his activities
there at all.
JRH: Apparently Vollmer was on good terms with Bill Knowland. Do
you know about this? Chief Holstrora told me that the Oakland
Tribune did have a reporter stationed at Berkeley P.O. Do
you think that was due to Vollmer' s initiative?
Wilson: Vollmer would certainly have no protest but I'm sure the Know-
land family, being aggressive Journalists, would have initiated
this, putting the reporters where there was news. There was
news at Berkeley and readily accessible because of Vollmer' 8
complete frankness in dealing with the reporters.
JRH: I suspect that was very helpful in his gaining such a wide
spread reputation because of his attitude toward the press.
Wilson: Yes, I'm sure it was.
JRH: Apparently he influenced Hoover's attitudes toward setting
up the FBI. Do you know anything about this?
11*
Wilson: Not a thing.
JRH: One other historical thing that ties in a little bit with
your discussion of the schizophrenic trees. Apparently in
1925 a number of influential people established a social
welfare league in Berkeley and Vollmer was one of the people
involved in that. They handled, in a more social work way,
the problems of the community. Do you know anything about
that, if he stayed in that?
Wilson: I'm sure he was interested in it, but he did have a police
woman, one of the early policewomen, Polly was her first name,
she married Gus Mehrtens and after Gus Merhtens1 death she
continued on as the policewoman and whether she's still alive
I don't know because she'd be a very elderly person by now.
Vollmer was a humanitarian and was interested in social wel
fare, was interested in parole and was interested in the
welfare of prisoners in the correctional institutions.
One thing he was always trying to do was to get his subordi
nates to write. To write and publish in Journals and some
in books. John Larson was a policeman at that time and he
later became a psychiatrist, but he developed the lie detector
and he did this with Vollmer 's strong support and worked with
some of the people at the University where he then was a
student and wrote a book on the lie detector. Then later,
and I'm sure it was at Vollmer 's instigation, he developed
a system of single fingerprint classifications and wrote a
book on this. So here were two books in the field that
Vollmer got a subordinate to write. He would urge individual
members of the department to write something. He'd say, "Why
don't you write an article and have it published in such and
such a Journal." He was constantly urging, apparently aware
of the need for literature in the police field and concerned
likewise with publication and it was because of this that he
became acquainted with Charles C. Thomas, a publisher in
Springfield, Illinois. Thomas was out after I was appointed
Professor and we had several visits with Thomas and his wife
and then later with Thomas' son, Payne Thomas. Because of
Vollmer 's urging the Thomas' , who up till this point had
specialized in medical literature, broadened their field of
interest and started publishing in the police field. V.A.
Leonard has had maybe a dozen books published by them. They
are also publishing this new book by A. Parker. Here, for
example, are books that V.A. Leonard has written.
15
JRH: So Leonard was greatly influenced by Vollmer in that respect?
Wilson: Oh, yes.
JRH: He became a Professor of Police Administration at Washington
State. He was a patrolman to start?
Wilson: He was an Identification Officer but whether he came in as a
patrolman I don't know. We had as the Identification Officer
a man named C.D. Lee and I think Lee trained Leonard and
Leonard then went to San Diego as Identification Officer
then came back about 192b or so.
(Response to question #1 . ) On the seventh point I can only
say that he was invariably friendly to all his friends ,
helpful to his employees and was always prepared to give a
great deal of his time to advising colleagues.
JRH: What about his enemies? He must have made some.
Wilson: I'm sure he did, but he never talked about them.
JRH: It would be hard to make so many innovations without making
some enemies of people. You don't know too much about the
people he may have aggravated?
Wilson: No.
JRH: What about his wife? What sort of a woman was she?
Wilson: A charming woman. He made a survey of the police in Cuba at
one time and Pat was with him. She had short hair like they
wore it in those days and her hair was gray but she was an
extremely attractive person and personality and she enjoyed
the things that Vollmer enjoyed. They would go out in the
evenings for dinner somewhere and in those later days I had
the privilege of being with them on some of these occasions.
(Response to question #8.) In addition to V.A. Leonard, there
was a man named Gabrielson who, the last I heard, was a Sheriff
in the northern part of the State. When Vollmer reorganized
the Honolulu Department he arranged for Gabrielson to be
named Chief, and Gabrielson served there a number of years
until he finally left and returned to the mainland. Another
one is Wiltberger, William A. The last I heard of Wiltberger
he was living in retirement in New Mexico but Vollmer played
an important role in the lives of all three of these men.
V.A. Leonard is still alive and I don't know whether Wiltberger
and Gabrielson are still alive or not. Walter Gordon and Bill
Dean also.
16
INDEX -- O.W. Wilson
Ball, Juan, 1
Berkeley, City of
Police Department, 1, 5, 13
social welfare league, Ik
town marshal , 9
Black Hand, 7
California, State of
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, 11
Crime Commission, 13
Department of Corrections, 11
Cuban police survey, 15
Dean, William, 15
Dullea, Chief Charles W. , 5
Fullerton, 1, 10
Gabrielson, William A., 15
gambling, 10-11
Gordon, Walter, U, 15
Harvard University
Bureau for Street Traffic Research, 6
Holstrom, John, 5, 10
Honolulu Police Department, 15
Kansas City, Kansas, 7
Kidd, Captain, 8
Knovland, William, 13
Ku KLux KLan, 12
Larson, John, lU
Lee, C.D., 15
Leonard, V.A. , 6, lU-15
lie detector, lU
Los Angeles Police Department, 11
McClintock, Miller, 6
Mehrtens, Gus , 3, I1*
Mehrtens, Polly, lU
Morrow, Clarence, 11
New Orleans , La . , 7
17
Oakland Tribune. 13
Pacific Finance Corporation, 2
Parker, Alfred E. , 9, I1*
Phillips, Lee, 2
Prohibition, 12
psychiatry, 8
San Diego Police Department, 6, 15
San Francisco fire, 9
San Francisco Police Department, 10
Thomas, Charles C., lU
Thomas, Payne, lU
Unitarian, 10
University of California at Berkeley, U, 7, 8
Bancroft Library, 6, 12
Daily Cal. 1
Police Administration, 2
University of Chicago, 7
Vollmer, Millicent "Pat", 1, 7, 15
Warren, Earl, 12
Washington State College, 15
Who's Who in the West, 10
Wichita, Kansas, 2, 7, 11
Wicker sham Commission Report, 7
yawara (judo), 5
Criminologist
San Francisco Chronicle -^ ...
Thursday, October 19, 1972 01*131100 W.
f
i
Daily Californian
Thursday, October 19, 1972
. -
.1
J
O.W.WILSON in 1960
Died Yesterday
CrJminologist Dead at 72
Orlando W. Wilson, former
dean of the School of Criminology
here who achieved national fame
as Chicago police commissioner,
died yesterday at the age of 72.
Wilson worked his way through
school here as a part-time Berkeley
policeman, then went on to be
come police chief in Fullcrion and
Wichita, Kans. In 1939 he returned
to the University as professor of
police administration in the Politi
cal Science Department, and in
1950 was named dean of the new ly-
formcd School of Criminology.
While teaching here, Wilson
served as special consultant in the
reorgani/afion of thirteen police
departments, including (hose of
San Juan. Puerto Kico. and l.i.uis-
ville. Kj. Irurn 1943 to 1947 he
was a colonel of militari police in
, (from front page)
ances front Mayor Kichard Daley
of a free hand and a salary more
th»n twice that he received as dean
heri . Wilson accepted.
The School of Criminology was
at that lime undergoing one of its
neriodic threats of being rcor-
pim/cd out of existence.
Under Wilson's rule, the Chi
cago Police Dcpt. was partially put
Germany and Italy.
Wilson held only a bachelor's de
gree while serving as a professor
and dean here, but later received
two honorary doctorates.
In I960. Wilson was called to
Chicago to head a special "blue rib
bon" commission seeking a new
head of the Chicago Police Depart
ment. The commission was ap
pointed in the wake of a scandal
implicating over a score of police
officers in a burglary ring which
among other things used police
cars to transport stolen goods.
After examining 53 candidates
for police commissioner, the other
members of the commission asked
\\iKon to step down so that he
himself might he considered for
the posi. After receiving avsur-
f.»«V />«*'
under the civil service merit sys
tem. and both open theft and some
of the more blatant aspects of
political patronage in the depart
ment were curbed.
There was, however, no notice
able decrease in either police bru-
lalit) or "justifiable homicides"
committed by police officers — •
category in which C hicago con
tinued to hold the national record.
Wilson Dies
Poivay. San Dirso County
Orlando \V. Wilson, who
gained a world reputa
tion in criminology be
fore cleaning up the Chi
cago police force after a
burglary scandal, cw-d of a
stroke yesterday. He was
• 72.
Wilson, a former dean of
the School of Criminology at
the University of California
at Berkeley, was appointed
Chicago's police comissioner
in 1960. He retired in 1967.
Earlier, h e lectured
throughout the United States
and Europe and reorganized
police departments at San
Antonio; Texas; San Juan,
Puerto Rico; Louisville Ky.,
and other cities.
He was appointed dean at
Berkeley in 1939 after earn
ing his undergraduate de
gree there in 1924 and a doc
torate at Carthage College
in Illinois, later receiving an
honorary doctor's degree at
Northwestern University.
During World War II he
served as an Army colonel
and on the staff of General
Lucius in Berlin.
Wilson was hired to clean
up Chicago's scandal-rid
den police force and was
given a free hand to do it by
Mayor Richard J. Daley.
The department had been
rocked in 1960 when eight
policemen were convicted of
comitting a string of burgla
ries with the aid of a profes
sional burglar.
The soft - spoken, slender,
wrinkle - faced, scholarly
Wilson methodically set to
work restoring the tattered
police image.
He applied theories of cen
tralization and effective su
pervision, took men off the
beat and put them into po
lice cars that flashed blue
instead of red lights, added
a canine force, modernized
the crime laboratory, in
creased promotions and
boosted salaries.
He applied computer tech
nology to police statistics, ,
criminal identification and
crime records. He made
Chicago's communications
network the envy of the
world's police forces and a
model to be studied.
JRH:
Hoi strom:
Wilson :
Holstrom:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
Holstrom:
Wilson:
I'm Jane Hovard, vith Chief Holstrom and Dean Wilson who are going
to chat together. I guess Chief Holstrom is going to ask Dean
Wilson some questions about his early career.
June in Mr. Wilson's home in Poway.
It's the second of
How did you happen to become a Berkeley policeman?
I vas a student at the University of California, a sophomore, and
I decided that I should support myself. My father had given me
a fairly liberal allowance at the time, but he had some reverses,
and I decided that it vas high time that I should be on my own.
There was a slight recession in 1921, was there not?
I think so. But Vollmer advertised in the Daily Cal for college
students who were interested in police service and stated that
an intelligence test would be used in the selection of applicants.
So I decided to take a fling at this and took the examination.
I've forgotten now who administered the Army Alpha, which was the
one we had, but I was selected and went to work in May 1921.
You left school then?
Oh, no, I continued until I graduated,
usually the second shift.
I worked the night duty,
Isn't it so that Vollmer was interested in attempting to improve
the quality of people in his own department and in the police
service generally? One of his ideas was to attract college
students and even when I was in college, in the late 1920' s, I
read a good deal about the college cops, who he encouraged to go
to school and be policemen at the same time. They were such
people as you, Ed Maeshner, Ralph Proctor, Walter Gordon, who
went through law school; and Bill Dean.
Isn't it also a fact that the man who was really the operations
officer in the police department was Jack Greening, who later
became the Police Chief. The program really did not delight the
Captain because he had some difficulty in getting those college
cops to work overtime because they were supposed to be going to
school. I believe that there was a period when Captain Greening
was not very enthusiastic about policemen who went to school and
worked as policemen at the same time, so when he became Chief he
changed policies slightly. Isn't this so?
This is true, but I don't know that it was because of the lack of
availability of these men for overtime. My recollection is that
this didn't interfere one iota with the overtime that they imposed
on those college students who were working in the department.
As a matter of fact, following the Berkeley fire in 1923, and
while Vollmer was in Los Angeles, we worked 16-hour tours of duty.
Wilson: That year I flunked out of the University as a consequence of
no tine for studies at all, so I graduated in 1925 instead of
192U.
Hoist rom: I have heard a story that one of your colleagues, Walter Gordon,
solved his problem by reading his lav books under a street light
while on duty down on San Pablo Avenue. I don't know how directly
this was connected with Vollner, but he must have tolerated it.
Wilson: I never heard this in reference to Walter Gordon, but I know
it's true in the case of John Larson. John would regularly
park his car and study his books. Doc Rooney would go out in
his car with a blanket at night and snatch a few winks of sleep
and carried an alarm clock. He'd set the clock for the time
when he was supposed to make a pull on the call box but I don't
know whether Vollmer knew anything about this or not, and I rather
doubt it, and I'm not at all sure he would tolerate it.
JBH: How many college cops were there, say, when you went in?
Wilson: There must have been a dozen out of a force of 28 or 30.
JRH: He was very successful in recruiting college kids. That was
quite an unusual ratio?
Holstrom: Not only quite unusual; this was unique in the United States of
America!
JRH: How long had he done it? Were you in one of the first classes of
college cops?
Wilson: I think a year or two before because Walt Gordon came on a year or
two before I did.
Holstrom: I think Walter came in 1919.
Wilson: This was about the start of it because it was the end of the
First World War and the Army Alpha grew out of the Army and this
was the testing procedure he used and I think it was about that
time when he started recruiting college men for service as
policemen.
Holstrom: I've referred in my tape to the long utilization of psychiatrists
by Vollmer which was an extraordinary thing to do. Do you happen
to know who the departmental psychiatrist was in the early 1920' s?
Wilson: Dr. Rowell.
Holstrom: He was a successor to a Dr. Ball. Did you know him?
Wilson: Ball came later. Because Ball did not examine me and Rowell did.
Holstrom: Dr. Rowell was still the departmental psyciatrist as late as the
early 19^0' s so he and Vollmer were very close friends.
Wilson:
Hoi strom:
JRH:
Wilson:
JRH:
Wilson:
Hoi strom:
Wilson:
Hoi strom:
Wilson :
Hoi strom:
Well, he may not have used Ball as a department psychiatrist,
but they were friends.
I didn't realize that Dr. Rowell's connection with the depart
ment went back that far. I'd like to ask you about a different
kind of subject unless something occurs to you.
Do you remember when you and other young college students were
recruited to be police officers if there was community reaction
against it? I suspect there might have been.
I was never aware of it or heard of it.
They didn't say, "What on earth are they recruiting college men
for?"
Quite the contrary. The press was favorable to this because it
was unique and it was a story* so I think the townspeople accepted
it completely.
By the 1920' s, regardless of what may have happened way back in
1905, wouldn't you say that Vollmer was in a very strong and
respected position in the community with the townspeople and
that this prevailed even down to my era when the department and
I bene fitted from the things that this man had done and the
international reputation he and the department had. There was
a carryover that I am positive is still going on in 1971.
He was President of the International Association of Chiefs of
Police in 1921-22. The conference was held here in San Francisco
and Dr. John Larson with his lie detector put on a demonstration
for the assembled group.
I'd like to ask you another kind of question and this probably
touches on the man's influence. This morning Mrs. Wilson and
I were in your study looking at your 1963 revision of Police
Administration which I personally choose to call the "definitive
tert in the field."
Thank you sir. Is that on tape?
I'm of course well familiar with the English edition, but I was
aware from a previous visit and conversations about the trans
lations which I know are in Chinese and Japanese, Arabic, Spanish,
and Korean. I should tell you that while your back was turned
Mrs. Wilson has presented me with a copy of the Japanese edition,
the only extra copy she had, so I got away with that for the Berkeley
Police Library. I want to ask you how much of the things you've
set forth there and some of the principles that you enunciated, if
that's a good verb, represent the Vollmer influence on your
thinking about standards and ethics and procedures and so on.
I know enough that a good deal of this is your own development
Holstrom: of your own experience and your own thinking.
Wilson: No, I think I'd put in a declaimer there. As I told Jane
earlier, this book, while I wrote it, reflected Vollmer1 s
principles and philosophy and I went through the book thor
oughly with him, chapter by chapter, so that I would say that
it reflects August Vollmer rather than O.W. Wilson.
Holstrom: Well, I'm sure the tape recognizes this too. I was talking
about the translations that indicate the international influence
and the responsible publishing company, McGraw-Hill, felt it
important enough to publish these translations into other
languages than English. This leads me to another question.
You'll remember that in the middle 1950' s, there was developed
the "Law Enforcement Code of Ethics". I don't think you and
I can ever forget the problems of developing that. This code
of ethics, as we know, has been adopted by many police depart
ments in this country as a statement of ideals which is what
you once called it. Not only that, but it's been adopted inter
nationally and widely published and adopted by police associa
tions such as the California Police Association, the International
Association of Chiefs of Police and others.
You will recall that initially this was proposed by a group of
middle management people like lieutenants who were interested
in professionalizing the police service mentioned so frequently
by Vollmer. They were interested in developing a code of
ethics or set of standards. You will remember that we were both
there when a San Diego police lieutenant by the name of
Gene Muelheisen presented to the Executive Committee of the As
sociation the first draft. You will remember that those very
conservative police chiefs felt it should be rewritten and you
will also remember the long period of time it took to put this
concisely on one page and we were involved. Our Dr. Douglas
Kelley actually did almost the semi-final draft. So we had a
Code of Ethics and we both know what it says. I want to ask you
if it isn't true that that Code of Ethics represents in large
measure the influence of the Vollmer philosophy on such people
as you and me and Dr. Kelley. Is this a correct analysis?
Wilson: Yes, I would say that it is. The inception of the Code of Ethics
came in Wichita and was outlined in the "Square Deal Code." We
adopted it there in the very early 30' s. If you read that code
you will find that much of it is incorporated in this Code of
Ethics that's been accepted by the IACP.
Holstrom: I now remember the "Square Deal Code" and I had forgotten it.
Of course you developed it. I don't think I have any more
questions and I don't want to go over the same ground that you
went over.
JRH: I'd be interested to know if you remember occasions in which the
three of you had been working together or socializing together?
Wilson: I can't recall.
Holstrora: Not so much together, but you had many associations with him,
professionally and socially over the years. The span of
years vas longer in your case. I served under him, but really
didn't have a close association with him until after he retired
from the University in the late 1930' s. Then the association
in my case vas progressive, personally and professionally, until
it vas quite intimate in the years preceding and at the time of
his death.
Wilson: I have no recollection of the three of us being together at any
affair.
JRH: Both of you say Vollmer vas extremely influential in the commun
ity, both locally and in the professional community. I haven't
gotten too much of an idea of his impact on Berkeley and the
people he vorked vith in Berkeley. In vhat sense vas he influ
ential?
Wilson: I don't think I could recall anything that would bear on this.
I can recall that he vas friendly vith Berkeley councilmen.
I can recall some sort of a run-in vith a Berkeley councilman,
by me not knovingifco the man vas and I vas somewhat chagrined
vhen I found that he was a Berkeley councilman, but I have no
information relating to Vollmer1 s relationships to councilmen
individually or as a body. Nor the city government.
JRH: It vas probably before your time that he had to get a charter
amendment passed in order to become Chief of Police. Later on
did he need any city council amendments to get any of his
reforms?
Holstrom: That really vas not a charter amendment. He vas the Town Marshal
under vhat I think vas the charter of 1895. I think I saw this
in some of the materials you had, and hov much he did or didn't
have to do with the incorporation vork and the charter of 1909, I
don't know. But it vould be normal to believe that the 1909
charter simply ratified automatically the position of Chief of
Police as one of the officials of the city since this is
California practice.
I believe I mentioned to you vhen you speak of his relationship
vith the community that he vas the early recipient of the
Benjamin Ide Wheeler Award. This award vas and is awarded bi
ennially to the citizen of Berkeley who has made the greatest
contribution to the community. The decision is made of a council
composed of the presidents of the service clubs, such as Rotary,
Kivanis and the others, including the Soroptomists, the women's
organization. So there's a broad base of community representation
in this avard. The year vas around the early 30 's and the
document I have is a three or four page recommendation to
Dr. Herman Schwartz who headed the Pacific School of Religion and
Holstrom: who was Chairman of the Wheeler Award Committee that year. There
was representative community feeling about the recipients because
this has always been true as far as my recollection goes and
that precedes 1930.
Wilson: Jane, you asked about his interest in social welfare. I
recall that someone made a study and published a thin book on,
I think, Juvenile delinquency in Berkeley. I can't recall the
name of the author. Do you?
Holstrom: No, I don't.
Wilson: He was sufficiently interested and got this book published and he
was always interested in community organizations and I think he
developed some program that had to do with social welfare in
Berkeley.
Holstrom: I wonder if what your thinking of is the Coordinating Council.
This Council has representation from the social agencies in
your community, including the people in the schools. This is
a development he talked about in his later years. On one oc
casion he told me that he felt, and this may have been as late
as the 1950's, that perhaps some of the people by that time had
really forgotten the potential value of the Coordinating Council
which in his viev was not only effective but essential in coordi
nating the social agencies in the community. Perhaps touching
on this too, and this was Just after you left the department,
O.W. , but I'm sure you'd know, be brought to Berkeley an
Elizabeth Anderson who later became Elizabeth Lossing. She
certainly was not the first policewoman in the country, but she
was the most prominent one in Berkeley police history because
she served from 1925 to 19^5 and she's no longer alive. I am
sure that Mrs. Lossing was educated in some mid-western or
eastern college in social welfare. Isn't that probably true?
Wilson: Yes.
Holstrom: Mrs. Lossing' s function for those twenty years was to become in
volved principally in the disposition of cases and not their
investigation. The disposition of cases involving women and
children under tweive. So here was an awareness of social welfare.
JRH: Did he serve on the Coordinating Council?
Holstrom: Certainly.
JRH: What were some of the other groups represented on this Council?
He served as a representative from the Police Department?
Holstrom: I remember clearly the schools. I remember his telling me that
in conjunction with the local school system and I think a man by
the name of Virgil Dickson was Assistant Superintendent of
Schools. Some of these people and some of Vollmer's people talked
Holstrom: about a summer project and I think the name of it was the Hawthorne
Project. These people on this Coordinating Council, or at least
the police and school representatives, sat down before the spring
tern had ended and identified the people they thought might
become community problems over the summer. Problems in the sense
of personal, anti-social activities. Gently and diplomatically
between these agencies, some kind of a program was developed for
the summer in an effort to prevent these youngsters from getting
into trouble. I'd like to tell you, too, in this connection
that Mrs. Lossing's unit in the department was not the Juvenile
bureau and was not the women's bureau, but the crime prevention
bureau. That title prevailed well into the 1930' s, well after
Vollmer had left. I probably changed it myself to Juvenile
Bureau.
JRH: I'd be interested to know if you were in together in other groups
like the Elks or other community groups.
Wilson: He was an Elk.
Holstrom: I really think that his personal correspondence files or the files
in the Berkeley Police Department and in the Bancroft Library
would reflect this because for his era a good deal of what he did
was committed to paper and correspondence.
JRH: Gene Carte mentioned that there is quite a bit and Mr. Wilson has
mentioned that he was a great writer and that he wrote a lot of
people, but you mean the records of the Department more than that?
Holstrom: He was not only a great writer, but he thought that everybody who
knew anything should put it on paper. One of my disappointments
to him was that I didn't start writing books whan I was 21 years
old. I'll never forget when I was a young patrolman and I might
have been all of about 23 years old and, as happened before and
happened afterwards, he was the host to some international visitors.
These were three or four English policemen of the caliber you
later associated with Chief Constables of the larger cities.
Vollmer invited them to California after an IACP conference so
they came to see this great man and this great police department
which was in the basement of City Hall in truly restricted
quarters. I happened to be in the Squad Room working on some of
that overtime we were still doing and he brought these men in to
see his Squad Room which was adjoining the jail and was the place
where the policemen changed their clothes, wrote their reports
and where the newspaper reporters functioned. I stopped running
the typewriter and turned around and he introduced me to these
gentlemen and informed them that I had been graduated from the
University a couple of years before and that I was writing a
police book. This was untrue but it was the Vollmer method of
encouraging other people to do things. This bothered me for
quite a while until I came to the conclusion that I was not going
to be an author of a police book.
INDEX John D. Holstrom and Orlando W. Wilson
Army Alpha Examination, 1, 2
Ball, Dr. Juan D. , 2
California Police Association, U
Carte, Gene, 7
Coordinating Council, 6, 7
Daily Calif ornian, The. 1
Dean, William, 1
Dickson, Virgil, 6
Elks' [Club], The, 7
Gordon, Walter, 1, 2
Greening, Jack, 1
Hawthorne Project, 7
International Association of Chiefs of Police, 3, **, 7
Juvenile Bureau, 7
Kelley, Douglas, k
Larson, John, 2, 3
Law Enforcement Code of Ethics, U
Lossing, Elizabeth Anderson, 6-7
Maeshner, Ed. , 1
McGraw-Hill [Publishing Company], U
Muelheisen, Gene, h
Pacific School of Religion, 5
Police Administration, 3
Proctor, Ralph, 1
Rooney, "Doc", 2
Powell, Hubert, 2-3
Schwartz, Herman, 5
"Square Deal Code", U
University of California, 1
Bancroft Library, 7
Wheeler, [Benjamin Ide] Award, 6
University of California Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
Milton Chernin
THE UNIVERSITY YEARS: VOLI/ffiR AS A PROFESSOR
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Refrents of The University of California
University of California Bancroft Library /Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
Milton Chernin
THE UNIVERSITY YEARS: VOLI/ffiR AS A PROFESSOR
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Re^nta of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Milton Chernin was interviewed by Jane Howard as part of a series on
the personal and professional history of August Vollmer. Mr. Chernin,
Dean of the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at
Berkeley, was selected in order to provide an academic perspective on
Mr . Vollmer ' s career .
Interviewer:
Time and Setting
of the Interview:
Editing:
Narrative Account
of Dean Chernin
and the Progress
of the Interview:
Jane Howard
A single interview was conducted on July 7, 1971, in
Dean Chernin 's office in Haviland Hall. The session
began shortly after 2:00 p.m. and ended at approxi
mately 3:00 p.m.
Editing of the transcribed tapes was done by Jane
Howard. Minor rearrangements of the tape were made in
order to maintain continuity of the discussion without
interrupting its informal quality. Punctuation and
spelling were corrected. Dean Chernin made a few
grammatical changes to clarify and added a few comments
to amplify his original statements. The changes were
not substantive.
Dean Chernin attended the University of California at
Los Angeles where he received his BA degree in 1929 and
the University of California at Berkeley where he
received his Ph.D. in 1937.
Mr. Chernin has been on the University of California,
Berkeley staff and faculty since 1931. He worked for
nine years in the Bureau of Public Administration doing
research, specializing in studies on welfare and cor
rections. He also did studies on the state prison and
parole system which were used by the state in reorganizing
these services. Mr. Chernin Joined the faculty of the
School of Social Welfare in 19^0. After a leave of
absence for service in the Army during World War II,
he was appointed Dean of the School of Social Welfare.
Dean Chernin has served on numerous commissions and
public bodies, including many in the field of law en
forcement, notably, the California Crime Commission on
Adult Corrections and Release Procedures, the Northern
ii
Milton Chernin (contd. )
California Citizens' Advisory Board to the California
Attorney General on Crime Prevention, of vhich he was
Chairman from 191*7-19l»9.
The tape follows the questionnaire outline quite
closely. It begins with a discussion of Chernin1 s
early work as a research assistant to Mr. Vollmer.
Mr. Chernin continues with a lengthy and sophisticated
discussion of Vollmer 's personality, commenting on
the sense of integrity and dignity that he conveyed.
He also discusses his belief that Vollmer may have
overemphasized the relevance of psychological theory
for policing.
Turning to stories and anecdotes, Mr. Chernin recalls
learning forgery and safecracking techniques from
Vollmer.
Mr. Chernin discusses Vollmer 's professional impact,
stressing the fact that Vollraer's ideas had a world
wide influence and that although his ideas often met
initial scepticism from his colleagues, the ideas he
pioneered have become the basis of modern police
administration.
The discussion turns to Vollmer1 s influence within the
county and the state and Chernin discusses Vollmer1 s
role in the development of the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation, and the Alameda
County Coordinating Council and his police surveys
throughout the state and nation.
The interview concludes with some brief comments on
Vollmer' s second wife and with Chernin 's reflection
that Vollmer 's suicide, as he sees it, was completely
congruent with his lifelong style of approaching all
problems energetically and logically and acting on the
basis of a rational evaluation of the situation.
Jane Howard
Chernin: I an being interviewed about my relationship with August Vollmer
for an August Volloer historical project.
First, what was my personal relationship to Vollmer?
I was Mr. Vollmer 's research and teaching assistant for several
years beginning here in 1929 or 1930 and continuing for several
years after. I was a graduate student in political science,
getting my master's and doctor's degree and working part-time as
a research assistant in the Bureau of Public Administration. At
that time the Bureau of Public Administration on the Berkeley
campus had received a very substantial grant from the Rockefeller
Foundation to start a program in the administration of crininal
Justice and as a result of this program, which it was carrying out
in cooperation with the Political Science Dept. and others, there
were added to its own research staff senior people in various fields,
such as Herman Adler, the famous psychiatrist and state criminolo-
gist from the state of Illinois; a man called Hugh Fuller, who was
an expert on criminal statistics; and August Vollmer, who became a
professor of political science in our own Political Science Dept.
on the Berkeley campus and a research associate in the Bureau of
Public Administration, I was assigned to help Vollmer which I did
for several years, both in his research work and in his teaching
of courses on police administration in the Political Science Dept.
August Vollmer had a very decided impact en ray own life, both
personally and professionally. As a result of my working for him
we became fast personal friends and this extended later to my wife
when I got married because August Vollmer was one of those people
who established warm and close relationships with people he worked
with and who extended to them help and relationships in various
aspects of his life. He also influenced me greatly in my profes
sional career because, as a result of him and others, I did both
my master's and doctoral dissertation in the areas of state cor
rectional systems and for many years afterwards when T Joined the
faculty of the Berkeley campus, I taught courses in the administration
of criminal Justice in which police administration played a large
part and much of my own philosophy about the police and the ad
ministration of criminal Justice were influenced both by August
Vollmer 's professional opinion and personal education of me as his
research assistant.
I shared an office in the basement of South Hall with August Vollmer
for some years and continued my personal relationship with him long
after our official relationship ended and when I had gone on to
other work in the University and he had retired and ceased active
teaching and research. I used to see him at home and kept in close
personal touch with him until the time he died.
Chernin: As his research assistant I did various Jobs; I helped him with
several of the books he was working on. For example, at one
point he stimulated the production of a book on police communi
cation systems to be written by a man called Vivian Leonard who
was a member of the professional staff, I think, of the Records
Systems of the Berkeley Police Dept. As a result of that I helped
Leonard organize that book and gathered material and actually
wrote the chapter on "police communications systems under emer
gency conditions" around 1931* and 1935.
I also did a great deal of the library research for things that
August Vollmer was interested in, writing on, or working on. I
remember, for example, in one part of my work for him I traced
the development of manuals of municipal police departments from
the very first one that was ever produced in the United States
when the city of New York professionalized its watch into a police
department . I traced it through to the very latest manuals that
we secured from various police departments and T remember to this
day how much I was impressed by the fact that some of the provi
sions in the first manual of the New York City Police Dept. are
still in the manual of current police departments almost unchanged
and that these had been copied in large measure by the original
New York City policeman from copies of the manual they had secured
from Scotland Yard in London. Thus I learned that one aspect of
administration is to recognize the importance of early developments
and what a terrific long life some things can have because of the
tendency of people to copy what someone else did rather than think
through for themselves what their problems and what their solutions
may be.
What kind of a man waa Vollmer?
Vollmer was a complex person. He cannot be characterized in any
simple terms. One of the outstanding impressions that I always
had of him, and I still have of him, was that he was a man of
great dignity and while he was a friendly person and a warm person,
I can't remember that anyone ever treated him lightly or with a
kind of light personal relationship which characterizes many of our
relationships. Just recently, when talking about Vollmer with
John Holstrom, I asked Holstrom if he could remember ever being
on a Joking and funny story or off-color story relationship with
Vollmer, and he said no that he couldn't and that certainly coin
cided with my memory of Vollmer, that I couldn't. And yet Holstrom
had said that he had heard stories of escapadea and relationships
that Vollmer may have had with other persons in Elk's Club or so
on. I also heard anecdotes of this kind when Vollraer was the
Marshal of the City of Berkeley and the kind of friendly relation
ships he had with some of the fraternity men in the University,
but certainly I never saw anyone who felt on that kind of personal
relationship with him. I saw Vollmer in relationship to many men
whan he loved and who loved him and with whom he had worked and
Chernin: developed and yet everyone of them treated him with a certain
respect because of his dignity that was almost similar to what
I suspect must go on in close personal relationships with men who
have become President of the United States and yet who probably
have close friends or members of their family who address them as
Mr. President. This of course was a tremendous reflection of this
man's worth, his self-esteem and the fact that ao many of the per
sons with whom he associated recognized that he was one of the
great men of this century and perhaps in world history in the
area of police administration and his contributions to it.
Another aspect that always impressed me about August Vollraer was
the wide variety and heterogeneity of the people whom he knew, who
came to see him, whom he associated with, and whom he influenced.
I remember sharing his office in the basement of South Hall, which
was also shared by Mrs. Muriel Hunter who for many years was his
secretary. The three of us would work in that office and so we
had an opportunity to see the wide variety of different kinds of
people who came to see August Vollmer. These included all kinds of
foreign visitors from the police administration field; they included
people from local and other police departments in the United
States; scholarly people from other universities who came to see
him about the developments in police administration; students and
other faculty members. But interestingly also, and what impressed
me very much as a young graduate student, were the number of crimi
nals and people whom Vollmer may have arrested or had something to
do with their criminal careers, who came to see him after they had
served prison sentences and so on because of their great trust in
him and their need to get some guidance and possibly to hit him
up for a loan and so on because he was not only able and willing
to discuss their problems but was willing and able to help them by
giving them money and so on. I don't know whether any of them
thought of him as a soft touch but he was a man who believed in
helping people in a wide variety of practical ways.
JRH: Vollmer 's great dignity didn't tend to put people off?
Chernin: It was very interesting that his dignity did not put people off
because his dignity was only one aspect of the man's personality.
His warmth, his concern, his obvious integrity — he was one of
the most principled men that I have ever met. It would never occur
to anyone that this man could ever be suborned or bribed, or pre
judiced or in any other way influenced from what he thought was
right. He had such a tremendous capacity to live his kind of a
life and I think it came through to all kinds of people with whom
he related, whom he helped in many ways, whom he inspired towards
all kinds of work.
I recall another very important aspect of Vollmer 's personality
that always impressed me and which I say not in criticism but as
an insight T think I developed. Vollmer really had, and displayed
in much of what he did, a basic insecurity in his own knowledge
Chernin: because of his own lack of formal education which in some ways
led him to respect formal education and to expect from men who had
more of it than he did more than was really available in them.
My own impression on this is that Vollmer probably had more faith
in what psychiatrists could contribute to the understanding of a
policeman's personality and character; whet psychiatrists could
do to help in the selection of policemen, the education and train
ing of policemen and in the coping with various problems of
police discipline, etc., probably Vollmer expected more from this
area of knowledge and from the psychiatrists whom he employed,
whom he associated with and whom he worked with than they were
actually capable of delivering or that their knowledge base was
capable of furnishing. It always seemed to me that in this one
area and particularly the fact that August Vollmer did not have a
great deal of formal education (my understanding was that he had a
high school education plus a summer's work in a proprietary school
of business at which time he went to work as a policeman and was
elected Marshal), that this came through and formed some sort of a
basic lead to understanding this man. I make this point because I
hadn't heard it discussed by his friends and his admirers and yet
because of my own background as an academic in the University, I
think I was aware of this. I also think that it partly affected
Vollmer 's behavior in the University and affected partly his own
conception of his place on a University faculty. I think in a
subtle way he always felt a bit inferior on a faculty because of
this lack of advanced education and not simply because he didn't
have a doctorate and couldn't be addressed as doctor; it was much
more subtle than that. I do believe that if someone were to write
a penetrating biography of August Vollmer this particular aspect
of him would have to be explored much more fully.
Having said this I think I must emphasize that it must be Judged
in the light of the fact that he was probably one of the most in
novative, thoughtful, contributing men to the improvement of police
administration, police science and basic ideas in police work.
These contributions of his covered the whole gemut of the police
field of which the following are a few examples; the use of psychi
atric information and knowledge in the selection of policemen and
in influencing his concept of how a policeman should behave and
what a policeman's work should be; his developments and his contri
butions to the development of police communications systems because
he was one of the first who utilized radio in communicating with
policemen when they were on the beat; in transportation — he was
one of the pioneers in taking policemen off of foot patrol and
putting them first on bicycles and then in automobiles in order to
enhance their efficiency and the economy of utilization.
One of his greatest contributions was an idea that he pursued for
years and that was to try to develop and analyze scientifically all
of the aspects of the police patrolman's work and to weight the
various duties and responsibilities that a policeman had on patrol
Chernin: in order to work out a more scientific basis for constructing a
police beat. It was interesting that I learned from him and
through the research I did for him, that the essential concept
of the police beat had been worked out by Sir Robert Peel when
he created the London professional police force in the early
nineteenth century in vhich he bad Just taken a map of London
and laid it out in squares vhich corresponded to the number of
policemen he had. This particular simplistic idea of the geo
graphic beat had not been changed in its essentials since it was
Introduced by Peel. Vollmer Justly perceived that this was com
pletely unscientific and irrational and not very productive and
that it created a great many inequities in police work. He
decided that one of the things that ought to be done vas to analyze
and break up the policeman's Job into every kind of a specific
task that it consisted of; then to get men to keep records of how
many times they did these particular tasks and how much time it
took to do each task and then to put these together into some
sort of a formula. When you put it all together, a police beat
would come out equitably, giving each man the same total burden
of work to be done. This of course meant that in a crowded
downtown area where there were high value property with many
business doors to be shaken and so on, a man might have a very
small geographic beat. Whereas in the outlying residential
areas a man might have a very large geographic beat and still
not be doing any more in total than the dovntown man. This now
seems to us to be a very simplistic kind of analysis and yet
until Vollmer had developed this idea, nobody had thought of this.
Vollmer devoted a great deal of his own research time to the
scientific study of the beat; he stimulated many professional
policemen and students to work on this problem; work which is
still going on. It is a good example of the kind of scientific
police administration he conceived of and stimulated.
JRH: I think most people don't bring this out and I think eventually
Gene might be interested in writing a biography. You brought out
that you feel that Vollmer thought that psychiatry could deliver
more than it can; what about academically? What about his belief
that education contributes so much to police work?
Chernin: I think not quite. Why I mentioned psychiatry is that one of
Vollmer 's most compelling intellectual interests was in this whole
area of the selection of policemen, their education and training,
especially in their personality areas. He had a conception of the
policeman as being so much more of a social worker than a preventer
of crime or the suppresser of criminals through their arrest and
conviction, that he was inevitably led into this whole area of what
are the personality attributes of a person who would make an ex
cellent policeman in his own conception of the breadth of this man's
responsibilities. During all his life, he read avidly and studied
avidly in this area of personality development, including an attempt
to find out what the biological, sociological, psychological,
Chernin: anthropological components of personality analysis and develop
ment were. In all of these areas it seemed to me that Vollmer
suffered from the fact that his own formal education had never
given him an adequate knowledge base; to feel absolutely secure
in his own ability to understand what he read and sometimes I
felt that he Just didn't have the knowledge base to be able
critically to evaluate what he was reading, and what the signifi
cance of these contributions were. I had the feeling often
times that he was beyond his depth in this kind of study which he
pursued relentlessly and that he often turned for guidance and
counseling in these areas to men who might not have been the best
minds in that particular area but whose advice and counsel he
took perhaps with more trust than was Justified. I didn't, however,
feel that this was a handicap to him in such areas as the knowl
edge base for administrative organization and for the actual or
ganization of police departments and so on because there, it seems
to me, either the knowledge base was much more easily comprehen
sible to men without too much formal education or that it was the
kind of knowledge which he was equipped much more adequately to
grasp from his own experience and his own reading. Here I think
he made a contribution about which every thoughtful analysis will
come out in the same way; namely that he was thoroughly competent
to make an outstanding contribution in those areas.
Vollmer, I am sure, made a deep and lasting impression on all
kinds of people all over the world. He had a reputation which
gave him great stature among practicing policemen and among police
administrators both here and abroad. His reputation in England
among police administrators there was probably almost as great as
it was in this country. He had a very high reputation among the
academic people interested in police science and police adminis
tration. As a matter of fact, many of the different college cur
ricula in police administration which started to develop under his
aegis were pioneered by the men he had educated both at the
University of Chicago and here. Their content was probably more
affected by August Vollmer than by any other single person that I
know of. He impressed a wide spectrum of people with the fact
that he was a great man and unlike what the poet usually says, that
you have to wait until after death for recognition to come, he was
recognized widely in the United States and all over the world as
a great man in police administration during his lifetime. He im
pressed generations of students, he trained generations of students
for leadership positions in police work and many of the men who
became the outstanding professors of police administration after
he retired, such as Orlando W. Wilson, are people who served with
him in the Berkeley Police Dept. or whom he had trained and educated
afterwards. Vollner was one of these fortunate men who in his own
lifetime was recognized and rewarded in many ways for the great
contributions he had made in his work.
Chernin: When it comes to anecdotes and stories about Vollmer, most of
what I remember I think he told me about himself. He used to
tell me and others with a great deal of pleasure, some of the
sort of escapades that he had lived through vhen he was the
elected Marshal of the City of Berkeley; with fraternity boys
and the escapades that they used to carry on around the University
and with which he had to cope and how he used much more the idea
of personal influence on them rather than harsh pressure. I'm
not sure whether I heard from him or from others the fact that he
would often Join in a beer bust and so on and as a matter of fact
I think I may be confusing these escapades during the time he was
a Marshal with those when I think he was a mail carrier here in
Berkeley and that some of these escapades may have been when he
delivered mail to the various fraternities and perhaps Joined them
in a little escapade.
By and large I don't recall too much of the lighter side of Vollmer.
I do recall that he was a man who had a tremendous amount of prac
tical knowledge of criminal behavior and I still recall how he
once taught me the elementary ways of becoming a forger. I still
show this off myself with company as a parlor game. What Vollmer
told me was that the essential thing if you want to become a
forger is to break the writing habits that we have developed in
the way we write long after any conscious concept of what we do
has disappeared. If you wanted to forge a signature, you cannot
forge it if you are trying deliberately to write the person's name
because your own unconscious habits of forming the letters get into
the way of copying this so what you do is you turn the signature
that you're trying to forge upside down and then try to reproduce
the form of the writing upside down and from back to the front and
in this way the signature ceases to be letr.ers and becomes a form.
Then he showed me about it and asked me to try it and I was aston
ished that the very first time I tried it, I came up with a better
facsimile of a signature than I could have made if I tried it the
other way. These are the sort of things he had a wide fund of
knowledge of and it impressed me. He told me, for example, how
easy it was to get into a house if what it had was a hog-eye lock
and key. It's really one of the old-fashioned types of household
keys and he said that it was so simple to manipulate. He also told
me other things about how you could get into a more complex lock
with a little piece of celluloid and so on. Not having any mechani
cal skill I never really practiced this, but this was an example of
a great many things Vollmer had and knew and shared.
JRH: Not necessarily light anecdotes — do you recall more serious
stories?
Chernin: Yes I do but I don't remember an awful lot of them because most of
the time when I was working with him and so on we were doing other
things but I suspect that others might have been on a different
relationship and perhaps would know a little more about him than I
Chernin: did in those areas. I suppose there was also, in relationship
to this whole matter, a generation gap between us and he may
very well have shared more of this with men a little closer to
his own age than I was.
What was Vollmer's professional impact?
My own impression was that Vollmer probably had greater influence
on the development of police administration in the United States,
its modernization, its introduction of what we would consider
developments of the 20th century, both in the United States and
elsewhere, than any other single person. I would suspect that he
ranks in the twentieth century right along with the traditional
concept of what Sir Robert Peel did in the modernization of police
work in the 19th century. I know that he had a tremendous influence
on how municipal and other police departments developed in almost
every aspect of their work. His reputation extended to knowledge
and influence on police departments of all sizes, from the largest
metropolitan ones to the small, modest size police departments
like Berkeley. This influence was extended not only through the
example he set when he was developing the Berkeley Police Department
into a national and international model which was visited by
police administrators from all over the world, but his influence
was spread by the fact that he was very influential in the Inter
national Association of Chiefs of Police in which he held high
office and in which he had been active and which often times took
his ideas and developed them after a good bit of lag because many
of his ideas were threatening to established chiefs of police and
conservative ones. Often they would pooh-pooh them when they first
heard them and then a few years later when you were reading the
proceedings of the International Association of Chiefs of Police
you read of their acceptance. Incidentally, that's part of the Job
I did for Vollmer. I read every one of its proceedings from the
time it was first organized until I quit work for him. It was
interesting to see how influential his ideas were in that organi
zation, over time.
JRH: What were people saying when his ideas were advanced and people
wouldn't accept them at first? What were people saying against
them?
Chernin: They were usually the kind of scepticism of new ideas and new ap
plications with which almost all professionals involved in day by
day administrative responsibilities react when they hear a strange
idea. If you say "put policemen on bicycles" and policemen never
did anything but walk on foot, your reaction is to pooh-pooh the
idea of a bicycle or to say if a man was on a bicycle he would
whiz by the things he ought to, as a police patrolman, see. We
see that particular kind of a problem right now in the perennial
discussion of whether police work hasn't really deteriorated now
that policemen ride around in automobiles and very few policemen
pound a foot beat . You can still read in police literature and in
Chernin: newspapers articles deploring the passing of the good old days
when the police patrolman knew everybody on his beat and was able
to prevent crime because of this.
Similarly, with the development of other sorts of police adminis
trative innovations in communication. Vollmcr's span of police
work in police communications covered the development of police
recall systems and improvement through call boxes and then went
on to radio. The radio was first one-way radio and then became
two-way radio and then again even three-way radio. Every one of
these was met with scepticism at first and then technological
developments came along and then pretty soon what was perceived
as an impractical suggestion became the standard and acceptable
way of doing things.
One of the things that Vollmer was influential in developing and
which certainly met with a great deal of scepticism was the de
velopment of the modus operand! system: the idea that professional
criminals would have developed a certain technique of doing their
thing which, if carefully reported on and analyzed and coded and
put in a file, might lead to the identification of a criminal
beyond the development of fingerprints left and recaptured at the
scene. This he helped pioneer and you can imagine the scepticism
with which such an idea was first met. It would seem that it was
either fantastic or much too complicated, etc. Now the modus
operand! system, not only on the local level, but on the state
and national level, is taken as one of the indispensible aspects
of police work. When I worked with Vollmer this was back far
enough so that modus operand! was still being developed and he was
pioneering it. This is the kind of an example of a man whose
constant questing mind always approached every problem of police
administration from the point of view that said, "if this is the
way it ' s always been done , that ' s why you should suspect it ,
analyze it and see whether there isn't a better way of doing it"
rather than the approach that most of us have toward problems which
is "this is the way it's always been done and so that's the right
way of doing it." It never occurs to us that maybe there's a better
way of doing it.
I would Just summarize the question about what were the major
influences Vollmer had on policemen education and training and
other areas to say that in his lifetime he probably pioneered and
developed new ideas in every one of the important areas. For
example, in training, August Vollmer became identified with the
idea that the policeman ought to have a great deal of education
and training so that the college cop became identified with Vollraer's
idea that a policeman was a professional person and that professional
education and training of a policeman probably required as much
formal education as a baccalaureate degree in college would require.
This led actually to some false ideas about the Berkeley Police
Dept. because nationally it became a cliche that the Berkeley
Police Dept. required college education for its policemen. This
10
Chernin: never was the truth. It probably was true that the Berkeley Police
Dept. under Vollmer's administration and that of his successors,
had a higher proportion of men with either full college educations
or part college educations than other police departments, but it
never was true that the Berkeley Police Dept. required a baccalaure
ate in order to get on the force and that it ever tried to achieve a
force with this kind of formal education. The college cop became
inevitably associated with Vollmer's idea that police work required
much more formal education than most policemen had.
I remember an incident in his life at a time when Vollmer was called
to testify in a court case testing an attempt by the Oakland Civil
Service Commission, probably instigated by the chief of police who
was influenced by Vollmer, to set a standard for the recruitment of
Oakland policemen which I think would have set the standard at two
years of college education or perhaps of high school graduation.
This standard was challenged in a court suit in the Alameda County
Superior Court and Vollmer was called as an expert to testify on
the basis of his expertise, this particular standard (whether it
was high school or two years of college, I'm not sure, but it was
higher than that which had prevailed till that time), was a necessary
and reasonable standard related to the requirements of police work.
That case was lost in spite of Vollmer's testimony because the Judge
found that it violated the provision of the Oakland City Charter
which at that time said that a policeman had to have only an eighth
grade education. Vollmer felt rather badly that old provisions were
still effective when he was so convinced that nobody with only an
8th grade education was sufficiently educated and trained to do the
complex and demanding work that a policeman's work demanded.
JRH: Were they ever able to get that provision changed?
Chernin: I think so, although I didn't follow it. Most police departments
now probably are up to the level of a high school education but
still I suspect that how much education and the idea that a policeman
could be over-educated and that there really isn't anything that
complex about a police department and the old cliches that police
chiefs used to say — Why, Just give me the man and I'll give him
his gun and his club and a badge and tell him to go out and enforce
the ten commandments and by God that's all a policeman needs to
know to be a darn good policeman — I suppose there's still parts
of the world and parts of the United States where practical men think
that that probably is all that's required. Probably there are still
places where policemen are recruited with no more education and
training that that.
In what ways was Vollmer influential in the community — in Berkeley
and in Alameda County?
In Berkeley Vollmer had become during his lifetime one of the most
influential men who had ever lived in the community, both in *lj of
the work that he did as Police Chief and the things that he actually
11
Chernin: developed in the city of Berkeley in the way of how to do police
work. Vollmer was one of the organizers and developers of the
coordinating council idea in which he and Virgil Dickson, the
Berkeley Superintendent of Schools, tried to develop, and did, an
idea which swept the country and became one of the standard features
of advanced municipal organization. In the coordinating council
the police and the school people and the voluntary welfare agencies
got together to work to coordinate their planning and their adminis
tration of different programs for dealing with young people and
Juveniles who were classified as delinquents. Vollmer developed
this idea in Berkeley and it spread all over the country and became
a national movement of coordinating councils. At the time, when I
knew Vollmer, a coordinating council was perceived as a sort of a
panacea. Now, with our greater sophistication we see that it
couldn't possibly have the effect that people thought it could or
should have. Nevertheless, this was Just an example of the kind of
thing that Vollmer stood for in the city of Berkeley. He was prob
ably one of the most influential men who ever lived here.
Similarly, I suspect, he had influence not only in the city but also
in the county, although it's harder to influence sheriffs and their
police work than it is municipal policemen and chiefs and their
police work. Vollmer was a great authority on how to improve rural
police. He had ideas and wrote about how to improve Jails. One of
the things that he was very familiar with and introduced and popu
larized in this country was that our police system was derived from
England and we brought over to this country, lock, stock and barrel,
the English, the Anglo-Saxon, common law basic ideas of how to or
ganize police. Yet, the English were far ahead in reorganizing their
police departments and doing away in the middle of the 19th century
with the sheriff as a significant law enforcement officer in rural
areas and replacing him with a much more professionally oriented rural
police set-up. We in the United States still cling to the elective
sheriff as a law enforcement officer long after the country from
which we borrowed the institution has recognized it as an anachronism.
Vollmer, I remember, used the English model for nationwide setting
of standards for both urban and rural police departments and enforc
ing these standards through grants-in-aid from the National Treasury
to help pay for the costs of local police administration based on the
local police administration living up to the standards and based on a
periodic review of their performance. He used this English develop
ment as a basis for calling the desirability of similar developments
in the United States to the attention of American police officials
and political leaders. From that point of view Vollmer was always
interested in the development of a state police system and he had me do
a great deal of research for him on the origins and the development
of state police systems, state highway patrols. He also had a man
who did a great deal of writing in the police field, a man called
Alfred Parker, who started out by being a teacher in the Berkeley
High School I think but who developed an interest in writing and who
wrote a couple of books on police, state police and police administration
12
Chernin: with the encouragement and help of August Vollmer.
Vollner had this kind of state influence on the development of
police. I can't recall what relationship and activities Vollmer
actually had with the FBI. I may have known that and he must have
had some but I can't remember that with any accuracy. My own
scepticism about the FBI and my own tendency to try to avoid being
taken in by the massive propaganda of that outfit may have come
from my relationship with Vollmer and whatever he may have told
me about the reality of the FBI performance, etc., but I'm not sure
of that.
JRH: But wasn't he supposed to have some influence on some of the ideas
Hoover may have used in setting up the FBI?
Chernin: That may have been, because Vollmer had some very good ideas. The
FBI's idea that their men ought to be college-trained and either
lawyers or accountants, etc. would have been consonant with Vollmer 's
idea of adequate training for specialized police investigators. One
of the things that I now recall that Vollmer was very influential in
was the development of scientific criminal investigation and the use
of science, biological and physical and chemical, to aid in the
investigation and detection of crime. He did this through his close
association with a man called Heinrich who developed into probably
one of the best known scientific police investigators and lab men in
the United States. This was closely associated with Vollmer 's
knowledge of and interest in the application of science to the in
vestigation of crime. Vollmer' s reputation in this area probably
actually exceeds the reality of the application of science to the
investigation of crime because this is something which the public
eagerly bought which was highly publicized by newspapers and magazines
and articles, which lends itself to Sunday supplements. I remember
there are lots of anecdotes about people and crimes that are solved
and it has a fascinating interest for scientific writers. Vollmer
was serious in his belief that science could be and should be applied
to criminal investigation and I suspect that this too is one of the
areas in which he made a very significant contribution to the devel
opment of police administration.
Question: You asked how did Vollmer related to the people with whom
he dealt with on a frequent and close basis. I think I've said more
or less most of what I can recall here.
JRH: You didn't mention anything about activities on a state level.
Chernin: He must have been very influential with men like Earl Warren (formerly
District Attorney of Alameda County, then Attorney General of
California, Governor of California and Chief Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court ) whom he must have known very well .
JRH: During the time you were working for him you don't recall his meeting
with Warren or anything like that?
13
Chernin: I don't recall it specifically but I do recall that he must have
done this because in the first place Warren's terms as District
Attorney of Alameda County must have overlapped in some way with
Vollmer's functioning as a police chief. I'm not sure about the
dates. The other thing is that at one time in this period, we
organized under the Bureau cf Public Administration in the Political
Science Dept. teaching in the area of the administration of criminal
Justice and there developed a seminar on the administration of
criminal Justice which for many years was taught by many different
people being brought in to participate. For awhile Professor May
or someone taught this seminar and August Vollmer would participate
in the police part of it and Earl Warren, who was then District
Attorney of Alameda County, would come in for two or three sessions
relating to the prosecution function in the administration of
criminal Justice. I'm sure that there must have been very signifi
cant influence that Vollmer had with Warren and perhaps other gover
nors. I'm almost certain that Vollmer had a very great deal to do
and influence in the development of the Division of Criminal Identi
fication and Investigation, the statewide bureau of criminal investi
gation and identification in the state and the development of a
statewide police communications system which we still have, and in
the development of the state criminal records system, lie must have
had influence on the activity in these areas because for example I
know that the man who became the head of the Criminal Investigation
Division, George Brereton, was a man who had his start in the Berkeley
Police Department and must have had a good deal of his career in
fluenced by Vollmer with whom he served and studied and who probably
brought him to the attention of the authorities. His influence in
the state must have been very great.
Evidently one thing that was very interesting in Vollmer's career is
the fact that he became one of the great police analysts. He became
a great authority on making police surveys and he went all over the
United States surveying municipal police departments, analyzing their
problems and making suggestions for their reform. I remember the
reports he wrote, copies of which he would put in libraries which
became the origins of police textbooks. His police survey techniques
and the kinds of principles he applied in formulating and diagnosing
the problems of municipal police departments and in making recommen
dations for their improvement were the fundamental bases out of which
the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the International
City Managers' Association produced a series of textbooks in munici
pal administration. Their textbook on police administration which
became a bible and still is I think for police administrators, really
had its origin in the kinds of police survey techniques and principles
that Vollmer developed and that people like John Holstrom used.
John told me recently that he had learned how to do these police
surveys from Vollmer and that he now in some sense has taken Vollmer's
place in making these surveys. Certainly O.W. Wilson, who had been
Chief of Police in Wichita, Kansas and who started in Berkeley, was
for many years the Dean of our School of Criminology on the Berkeley
campus, must have learned the technique of police surveys from Vollmer
Chernin: and applied them so that he too is known for the number of police
surveys that he made.
As a result of this, in the 20' s, I'm not sure what the date was,
Vollmer was asked to come down and survey the Los Angeles Police
Dept. at a time when it was steeped in corruption. This police
corruption stemmed from the fact that the Mayor's office of Los
Angeles was corrupt and the police department there had developed
a kind of close political domination and corruption which is often
associated with a political mayor and the incursion of vice and
gambling interests into a metropolitan police force. Vollmer went
down there and did the survey of the L.A. Police Dept. and became,
for awhile, the acting Chief of Police of L.A. I remember him
telling me that he was framed down there. The gambling and vice
interests deliberately tried to frame him with a woman, to make a
scandal so that he would be driven out of town and they could des
troy the reforms that he had recommended and had instituted. This
didn't vork and the fact is that the Los Angeles Police Department
even to this day remains among the most professional, efficient and
honest police departments because of Vollmer 's reforms. He insti
tuted a civil service system of selection and promotion that ex
tended upward, even to the Chief of Police. This stemmed directly
from recommendations that Vollmer made of how one should go about
taking a corrupt police department and making it into a very ef
ficient police department. He had similar influences on many of the
police departments of the world and it was on this basis that he had
developed an international reputation because of his surveys. I
remember distinctly that he did a survey of the Honolulu Police
Department .
August Vollmer was married; we knew his wife. His wife died before
August Vollmer did. He didn't have any children. He did have a
niece, who was, I believe, the daughter of his brother. I can't
remember very much about the niece except that I do know that she
came up in our conversations. I don't remember having met her but
she did have some meaning for Vollmer. This may be why he enjoyed
the company of young students so much because they filled a need in
a person's life — to be related to younger people. He was a very
hospitable man in that regard.
I also remember now an anecdote about Vollmer that I think has some
significance. For many years August Vollmer had problems that all
great men have and that is, he was Just flooded with invitations
to speak, serve on committees, to sponsor worthy causes, to appear
at all kinds of events on every level of the community and on the
state and national levels. He had a very interesting way of coping
with this flood of demands on his time. Sometime before I got to
know him and all through our relationship, Vollmer was supposed to
have been convalescing from a heart condition and it was widely
known that he was a man who had had a heart attack, was convalescing
under a doctor's care, and he had to be careful. He used this par
ticular condition as an acceptable screening device for turning
down most of the things that sheer volume forced him to turn down.
15
Chernin: He could be very selective and do the sorts of things and Join the
sorts of organizations, attend the sort of meetings, give the sort
of speeches etc. that he wanted to. He could turn down all the
others in an acceptable and perfectly sociable way which left the
requester with the impression of his graciousness and interest,
but that he couldn't do it. He had his own value system as to what
he wanted to do and what he didn't want to do. The reason I mention
this is that rather late in our relationship I noticed that Vollmer
had taken to smoking again because for many years he didn't smoke.
I used to smoke and I had asked him whether he had ever smoked and
he said yes, he smoked a great deal but when he had this heart attack
they told him that he had better lay off smoking and drinking and he
had done so. Then I asked him about it because I noted that he had
started smoking again. He smoked small cigars, and he laughed and
said, well, I just decided that I'm well enough now to indulge
mildly in a habit; that I like to smoke and I don't do it in excess.
I had the impression then that maybe his heart condition had not
actually been so serious as I had always assumed it was and that he
had developed this very nice way of coping with one of the great
problems of the well-known and of the great in an acceptable way.
I think I ought to mention the most enigmatic thing about Vollmer
is how he died by his own hand and about circumstances I don't know
in detail except that after he lost his wife he was obviously a
lonely man. He lived in his house on Euclid Ave. in Berkeley and
we went to visit him. He had a very nice house on the upper hilly
side of Euclid Avenue. His study was on the basement floor and he
would receive people there. He had a housekeeper, but towards the
end when we went to visit him it was obvious that he was lonely;
that his social life probably wasn't very great. Then he developed
this incurable illness. I don't recall what it was. I think it
may have been some form of cancer and probably towards the end of
his life he was in great pain although he never shared this with a
person like myself. As is known he shot himself. This has always
been sort of puzzling to me because I don't think as a person I
have sorted out my own feelings about suicide. Not that I have any
religious scruples about it at all, because I don't, but of course
it was very regretful that this great man came to a premature end.
I guess I really end up by admiring the courage of the man because
I think it takes a great deal of courage to end one's own life.
I probably wouldn't have such courage. I guess in a sense I've
developed the view that this was one last aspect of the greatness of
this man in coping with problems and coming to their solutions.
In our society in which suicide is frowned upon it also meant that
his end in some ways was a bit of a cloud on his reputation. I
mention it because I'm sure there are other people who will and I
wanted to note that if sometime or other Vollmer gets an adequate
biographer, who will write a book explaining his life the way it
ought to be done, he will have to cope with this particular problem
of how this great man, and his great life came to an end.
16
JRH: Are there other people who would give a different perspective on
his life?
Chernin: If Mrs. Muriel Herock Hunter is still around, and if you haven't
interviewed her you should. She was his secretary for about 5 or
6 years during the sane period I was in his service. The last I
knew of her, she was the social worker on the staff of the Alameda-
Contra Costa Medical Assocation with offices on Piedmont Avenue
near College. She may have retired by now. She would give you a
glimpse of him from the view of a secretary and a close friend.
Eric BeLkjuist, Professor of Political Science, is still here. He
certainly knew him because Eric and I were friends at the time
when I worked with Vollmer. I don't know how much he would know.
17
liiDEX — Milton S. Chernin
Adler, Herman, 1
Alameda Covmty Superior Court , 10
Bellquist, Eric, 16
Berkeley, city of, 10-11
marshal, 7
police department, 6, 8-10
records systems , 2
California, state of
Division of Criminal Identification and Investigation, 13
Highway Patrol, 9-11*
state police system, 11
Chernin, Milton
research and other work for Vollmer, 2
Coordinating Council, 11
Dickson, Virgil, 11
Elk's Club, 2
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 12
Fuller, Hugh, 1
Heinrich, E. 0., 12
Holstrom, John, 2, 13
Honolulu Police Department survey, lU
Hoover, J. Edgar, 12
Hunter, Muriel Herock, 3, l6
International Association of Chiefs of Police, 8, 13
International City Managers Association, 13
Leonard, Victor, 2
Los Angeles, city of, lU
civil service system, lU
police department, lb
scandal, I1*
May, Professor Samuel C. , 13
Oakland Civil Service Commission, 10
Parker, Alfred, 11
Peel, Sir Robert, 5, 8
police procedures, 2, U-6, 8-9
psychiatrists , U
18
Rockefeller Foundation, 1
University of California at Berkeley
Bureau of Public Administration, 1, 13
fraternities, 7
Political Science Department, if 13
School of Criminology, 13
South Hall, 1, 3
University of Chicago, 6
Vollmer, August, passim
heart condition, lU-15
innovations , U , 8-9
personality, 2-k
professional impact, 8-13
suicide, 15
teaching at University of California at Berkeley,
Warren, Earl, 12-13
Wilson, Orlando W. , 6, 13
University of California Bancroft Library/ Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
General William Dean
VOLLMER'S INFLUENCE ON THE CAREER OF AN ARMY GENERAL
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
William Dean, born in 1899, vas interviewed by Jane Howard as part of
a series on August Vollmer. Major General Dean brings the perspective of
a man who served under Vollmer only as a "college cop," but who carried out
Vollmer principles in a very distinguished military career.
Interviewer:
Time and Setting of
the Interview:
Editing:
Jane Howard
One interview was conducted with General Dean on
July 8, 1971, in his Berkeley Hills home. The inter
view began around 10:30 a.m. and concluded at approxi
mately noon.
Initial editing of the transcript was done by
Jane Howard; corrections in grammar and paragraphing
were made.
Narrative Account
of General Dean
and the Progress
of the Interview:
Jane Howard and General Dean held an editing session
on January 22, 1972. At this time General Dean dic
tated extensive changes in the interview. The changes
made were largely directed at improving style and
grammar. General Dean also eliminated a fairly long
discussion of John Larson's contributions to the .
Berkeley Police Department and a number of comments on
other ex-Berkeley police officers.
Major General Dean was born in 1899 in Carlyle, Illinois.
He graduated from the University of California at
Berkeley in 1922. During his years at Berkeley, he
served (from October 1, 1921 to November 15, 1923) as
a Berkeley Police Department "college cop" on the
graveyard shift.
General Dean resigned to accept a commission as a
second lieutenant in the Army. He rose through the
ranks to become Military Governor of South Korea in
1952. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor
after his service in Korea.
General Dean is now retired and now active with Boy
Scouts of America.
ii
William Dean (contd. )
The interview begins with Dean's explanation of how
he came to work for the Berkeley Police Department.
He discusses Vollmer's principles, particularly his
emphasis on preventing rather than Judging crimes.
He compares Vollmer to General Me Arthur and Marshall.
He talks about the salary and benefits in the
Berkeley Police Department in the 1920' s.
General Dean continues, with examples of Vollmer's
foresight: "college cops", school boy patrols, radio
communication, the State Bureau of Identification
and Investigation, modus operandi. The General then
recalls his continuing contacts with Vollmer over the
years, and tells an anecdote on how the fact that he
had worked with Vollmer served to improve his relation
with the Japanese National Police force when he was
part of the Occupation Forces after World War II.
He discusses Vollmer's integrity and his influence on
his own life. He discusses some basic Vollmer
principles that he carried into his military career.
General Dean recalls Vollmer's application of his ideas
to the solution of burglary problems, and remembers he
was one of the earliest people to recommend treatment ,
rather than punishment, of drug addiction.
On questioning, Dean recollects that Vollmer fought
efforts of the Klu KLux Klan to organize in Berkeley,
and that he and Earl Warren worked together with mutual
respect.
The interview concludes with mention of letters received
from Vollmer by Dean during his captivity in Korea and
with comments on drug and fraternity problems in the
1920' s.
Jane Howard
Interview with Major General William F. Dean, July 8, 1971.
JRH: How did you first get to Know August Vollmer?
Dean: When, on July 19 » 1921, I Joined the Berkeley Police Department.
JRH: How did you get recruited to the force?
Dean: I saw in the paper that they were giving intelligence tests to
Berkeley students who had to be at least seniors and who would
like to go into the Berkeley Police Department. So I went
down and took the examination and was informed that I had passed
and was on the list.
That summer I was working up at the Hetch Hetchy San Francisco
Water Project and I received a telephone call from my parents
that I was to report to the Berkeley Police if I wanted the
Job, so I reported to Berkeley and took a physical, and passing
that. .. .There were four of us — Taylor, myself, Thayer, and one
other whose name I've forgotten.
We were sworn in by August Vollmer himself. We'd met him and
learned to respect and admire him as a man and in the work he
was doing. The papers publicized everything he did. When you
met the man, he had the qualities of two other men I've known:
George Marshall and Douglas MacArthur. All three had the
capacity to look through you and you'd think they knew exactly
what you were thinking. You didn't feel uncomfortable but you
felt you'd better not try to tell anything but the whole truth
when you spoke to them. August Vollmer Just mesmerized you;
at least he did me.
When we reported for work, we didn't have a training school in
those days, we were sent out for two or three days with a
patrolman on the beat and then when the patrolman thought that
you were okay , you were put on a beat . But , before we were put
on a beat, August Vollmer talked to us. He impressed me so much
then; he said that we should remember as police officers we are
not the court. "You're not to Judge people; you're Just to
report what they do wrong. Better still, you can prevent people
from doing wrong; that's the mission of a policeman." He also
stated: "I'll admire you more if in the first year you don't
make a single arrest. I'm not Judging you on arrests. I'm
Judging you on how many people you keep from doing something
wrong. Remember you're almost a father-confessor; you're to
listen to people, you're to advise them, you may be called in
on marital difficulties and you go in and do your best. This
will always be a thankless Job because both sides will be against
you." He gave us an insight into police work we hadn't had.
Dean: He said, "Whatever you do, don't bawl a person out. Tell them
they're doing wrong, but don't bawl them out. Don't raise
your voice, because you can't punish them yourself. That's not
your mission; your mission is to protect and safeguard the
property and the lives of the citizens."
He stressed this policy and we knew he meant it. He didn't mean
by that that if someone were committing a crime we didn't step
in and arrest him, but that we could not Just make arrests for
arrest's sake. Re stated all this so much more clearly than I
have here, but that was his creed and he lived by it. He didn't
push anyone because he had not made more arrests than his fellow
officers. Word got back to him whether or not you were following
out his policy, not by hired spies, but people would tell him and
he'd call you in and say, "I hear you did so-and-so and I like
that" or, in another case, he'd say, "You were a little rough with
so-and-so," and he'd say, "Explain to me, tell me how it was." He
was understanding, tolerant and inspirational.
JRH: What was the population of Berkeley in those days?
Dean: 85,000, as I recall.
JRH: Quite a number of people even then. People would still call and
tell him how things were going?
Dean: Everybody knew him. He was living at the Elk's Club at the time
when I was on the force.
Somebody once ran a stop sign. They put the first traffic light
in right after I left Berkeley, located at San Pablo and University.
San Pablo was like the freeway then because freeways were a dream
of the future. I stopped this individual and he pulled a press
badge. I was Just pioing to warn him. He said he had a press badge
and I said that, "That makes no difference, you're endangering
lives and there's no story that hot." He said, "I'm a good friend
of August Vollmer." "Oh," I said, "If that's the case the Chief
wouldn't like it if I didn't take you down and book you." So I
booked him. The Chief called me in and said that was Just the
thing to do. He said that if anybody says he's one of my personal
friends, you Just tell them that my personal friends don't do that,
then you do what you think is right.
That's the kind of a man Vollmer was. He was a man of the highest
integrity; he was thinking of his responsibility, not his own
personal glorification. He was thinking all the time of adding to
the prestige of the police profession. If anyone had to have an
education it must be a police officer. He must have an education
and he must be paid accordingly.
When I went on the force in July 1921, we got $170 a month and $30
for the use of our car. You made out on that because you got all
your oil and gas and the use of that car. You didn't get service or
Dean: insurance. I bought a brand new Model T Ford, five passenger,
and it cost me $1*15.00 with everything except a self-starter.
JRH: Can you compare your salary to say a plumber or an electrician?
Dean: We made more than a plumber did at that time. Engineers getting
out of college went to work for $90 a month. It was an out
standing wage. Young lawyers were graduating and working for
coffee and doughnuts the first years and here we were going to
school and getting paid. August Vollmer said we were on duty
for 2U hours a day so the city furnished our oil and gas for the
entire 2U hour period. So during your time off you were riding
on city gas and oil but, as Vollmer said, "I expect you to be on
duty continuously. If you see any transgressions, don't look the
other way because you don't have your uniform on."
The Chief always seemed to know what was happening in Berkeley
and if an officer happened to be present when an incident occurred
in which the Chief felt the officer should have taken action as a
police officer, despite the officer's not being in uniform, he'd
call that officer in and explain he had failed in his duties.
I especially admired Aup^ist Vollmer because of his foresight; he
was always thinking ahead and of the future role of the police
officer. Just prior to recruiting John Larson, originator of the
lie detector, he brought in Walter Gordon as the first U.C. student
as a full-time police officer while he was still a student in
Boalt Hall. The experience of the Department with these two men,
Walter Gordon and John Larson, as full time officers concurrent
with their academic work to obtain a J.D. and a Ph.D. respectively,
was so successful that August Vollmer initiated his "college
cops" program. Bill Wiltberger, Orlando Wilson, George Brereton,
Clarence Taylor, Henry Hoar, Kenneth Thayer followed Gordon and
Larson.
Another thing I would like to mention about August Vollmer is that
he was the initiator of the State Bureau of Identification located
in Sacramento. The first man that went up to organize it was one
of Vollaer's officers that left Berkeley to take this Job shortly
before I Joined the force.
August Vollmer also established one of the earliest school boy
traffic patrols. It was established either in early 1923 or late
1922. I have lived in other cities that claim to have an earlier
patrol, but I do not personally know of any established prior to
that date. In any event, I believe that the school boy traffic
patrol is a great opportunity for boys to learn real responsibility
and develop leadership. And, best of all, it teaches their peers
to obey constituted authority.
When I Joined the force, August Vollmer was intent on establishing
a radio communication system. He hoped to have direct communication
to each officer via radio, and he also hoped later to make it a
Dean: two way system. When I left the department, November 15, 1923,
his dream had not been fully realized, but he did have a pilot
vehicle that was able to receive signals from the station.
But in the meantime, he was one of the first police chiefs to
institute the Garaewell red light system. This consisted of red
lights at major intersections throughout the city and some up on
the hills that could be seen from most places within the city.
Police officers on the street would go to the nearest Gamewell
box and call the desk. If you didn't answer the light within
three minutes, you had to write a report why you didn't. This
was an excellent method for getting the officer to the scene
of the crime or incident expeditiously. They didn't have radios
and it wasn't until several years later they had crystal. I'm
talking about 1921 to 1923.
JRH: They signaled you from where?
Dean: If you'll look down Shattuck there is a light between Shattuck
and Vine right in the middle of the street, real high. There's
one at Shattuck and Cedar; Shattuck and University; Shattuck and
Bancroft; Shattuck and Dwlght, etc. You go down Telegraph, it's
the same way, almost the same intersections. Some up on the hill
we could see. Sacramento the same way; San Pablo and Uth Street
the same way, etc. They were in quadrants so if they wanted an
officer in that quadrant the light would Just go on in that
quadrant. If you wanted a particular officer, and not particu
larly in an emergency, each officer had his number. If it went
on steady in one section they wanted every officer in that quad
rant, which was usually one officer. If they all went on every
body rushed to the Gamewell box. There was a Gamewell box at
all these places. There are still boxes at many of those places.
There's one at Dwlght and Warring.
JRK: What about after you left the department? Did you stay in touch
with Vollmer?
Dean: When I left the Department the Chief was on a year's sabbatical
reorganizing the Los Angeles Police Department. Soon after
leaving I received a letter from him in which he expressed his
regret that I had given up police work in favor of the military,
but stating that when I tired of the military he would have a
place for me in Berkeley.
Then, a couple of years later after he had returned to Berkeley
and I happened to be home on leave I called to pay my respects.
During this visit he said, "How about resigning from the Amy;
they want a Chief in a small town (it was Burlingame). I'm
certain if I recommend you the position will be yours. You've
had a taste of army life, how about trying police work again?"
I was quite flattered naturally.
Then there was a time he wrote and asked me, after he had retired
and was establishing the School of Criminology, asking if I had
Dean: any ideas on courses that should be prerequisite for the School
of Criminology. What courses I thought had helped me with my
police work more than any other. I gave my view* on that.
I never came back on leave that I didn't see him, either at the
Police Department or the University. He alvays had time to see
me. He amazed me once when he and his wife were coming through
and he called me from Salt Lake City. He had that personal touch
with every officer, and if an officer made a mistake he didn't
crucify him. He felt that if that officer had anything in him he
gave him support and help. He never stood in an officer's way.
Many of the officers he would have liked to have stay in the
department, if they had a chance for a better position, he en
couraged it and made it possible. For instance, O.W. Wilson was
first down in southern California, then at Wichita.
Now I mentioned the traffic police. That was his idea, to show
you how versatile he was. He was thinking in all ways. He put
John Larson to work on the single fingerprint system. Some man
with a Russian name, a convict over in San Quentin, came out with
one Just before John finished his; Just beat him. In fact, when
they set up the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hoover had a
graduate school and they had two speakers back there that year
who were both from the Berkeley Police Department. Hoover recog
nized what August Vollmer had done. He was so far ahead in, for
instance, M.O.S. He was the daddy of the modus operand!.
After the war, I was the Senior Officer of the occupation forces
on Okinawa and Kyushu and they were installing a new police chief
there at Kokura and I was invited to attend a dinner honoring him.
They have a national police organization there and the Deputy Chief
from Tokyo was there for the occasion. I met him, and I had to
say a few words. I recalled that I had been a police officer
myself and had the great privilege of serving with the great pioneer
in criminology, and the internationally-known Vollraer. After the
dinner, the Deputy Chief came over and said, "Oh General, do you
know that I've got reprints of August Vollmer' s paper on M.O. and
it's required reading throughout the national police department.
I spent six months in your Berkeley Police Department under
August Vollmer and there are so many things that I learned there
that I have installed here." It was so genuine and sincere. I
had met the Deputy Chief before, and he Just thought I was one of
those damn Army Occupation people, but it was a different relation
ship when he heard I had too served under August Vollmer.
Dean: (in response to question l): How you say, in what capacity did
you work with Vollmer? I was a patrolman the whole time. Usually
I tried to be on the 12 to 8 a.m. shift because I had a chance
once in awhile to get enough sleep. I was going to school and
doing a full eight-hour shift and had to appear in court and so
on, and this all took a lot of time and I needed my rest. When
they moved me down to the second shift from four to eight , I
never had a chance to see my girl. I asked if I couldn't stay on
Dean: the midnight to eight in the morning and the chap whose place I
took was very happy about it. Most of my service was from
midnight to eight.
What effect did Vollraer have upon your life? August Vollmer has
had a great effect on my life. His example of enthusiasm for
his Job, his integrity and his loyalty to the city, the mayor,
his subordinates, and the citizenry was outstanding. He epito
mized what I consider the prerequisite qualities for leadership.
I've always felt and believed this, and that's why I have his
photograph hanging up in my study. I owe him a great deal for
the examples he set and I've tried to follow; not well, but I've
tried.
General Dean (in response to question 2): What kind of a man
was Vollmer? How did he impress you? I think I've already told
you and I know he impressed others. The personal characteristics
that made him an influential man are Just what I've said: integrity,
loyalty and enthusiasm. You can't be enthusiastic without knowing
your Job, that's what makes you enthusiastic. Your enthusiasm
makes you better with your Job and being better with your Job
makes you more enthusiastic. They're part and parcel. Hours
didn't mean anything to him. We didn't have overtime in those days
and no one resented it. We got one day a week off, but the hours
we spent we didn't worry about.
I think we've answered questions are and two and, as to what was
Vollmer 's professional impact (question U), I told you a little
bit when I was speaking about this Japanese senior officer. One
of the major ideas that comes with police work that Vollmer stood
for was to study the problem and react accordingly. Even in those
days he had maps up for every accident that occurred, with the
little pins, and he knew and made us all look at it at the weekly
meetings. We were having more traffic accidents at the corner of
Allston and Milvia than any place in town in those days. He
wanted a study made on how we could improve this. He was a pioneer
in traffic safety.
JRH: Did you carry over some of his ideas into your military career?
Dean: Yes, I tried to. Ee had one which is basic in the military and
I really learned it from him. Plan to have your major forces, a
concentration of forces, where you want to hit. Don't dissipate
your forces; don't try to get every place.
We were having people coming over on the trains. I mean this is
hard for you to realize, but people didn't all travel by auto then.
There were so few automobiles that between certain hours —
between 1 and 3 a.m. — if you parked out in front of your house
all night without using the garage, you got a ticket. You weren't
Dean: permitted to park all night on the street. Cars were still
quite uncommon in the '20's.
Vollmer had a chart where all the daylight burglaries were. We
had a great many daylight burglaries then because the thief would
come over from San Francisco and ride the train and the street
cars. Many of the very well-to-do people who worked in San
Francisco, and now drive cars and now live further out in the
country, used to take the streetcars and get off at Benevenue and
Hillegass. There are some beautiful homes in that area, but a
lot of them are housing communes now. That ' s where the junior
executives and then the big executives lived. Also thieves would
come up Claremont Avenue and get off and hit all those homes up
in the Claremont District. They would Just hit those areas, and
the stuff would be pawned in San Francisco. We knew they were
coming from there and they were taking those trains, getting off,
walking down and knocking over a couple of houses and taking the
other train home. He pulled people on my shift, for instance, and
the burglaries were happening between one and four so we had to
ride our cars. We had unmarked cars and most of us had Fords and
they were suspect in themselves , but that ' s the way we caught a
number of these burglars. Vollmer had planned to have a mobile
force that he could use where he needed it; he planned ahead.
Vollmer developed the idea of drug addiction being an illness. He
said "Let's get them treated." This shows his foresight.
JRH: We heard he was very active in fighting the Ku JCLux KLan while
they were big and that might have been around your time.
Dean: I know that they were attempting to organize the KKK locally and
on one occasion the embryo KKK was scheduled for a meeting. We all
had to stand by. He didn't send me when I was off duty, but I
was supposed to get up there in civilian clothes and assist if
anything came up because they were going to have a meeting on
Cragmont at Cragmont Rock. I know he was opposed to any secret
organization like that that wanted to take the law into its own
hands. He was prepared for it and I'm certain he discouraged them.
JRH: Do you know anything about Earl Warren? Warren apparently was
District Attorney about the time you were here. Did he work with
Vollmer?
Dean: Yes. He worked very closely with Vollmer and Earl Warren handled
several cases that I had preferred charges on. He was an Assistant
District Attorney vhile I was on the force. I thought he had for
gotten me, because I didn't know him well but he's quite an indi
vidual in this respect, he doesn't forget people. After World War
II, I hadn't heard from him and he'd been Governor and I wasn't
living here. That was in 19^*7 and I was suddenly sent from
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to Korea as Military Governor when General
Lerch died suddenly. I'd been ordered to replace him and damn if
I didn't get a letter from Governor Warren almost immediately,
Dean: congratulating me and saying he remembered our association when
I was on the force and he was Assistant District Attorney.
Frankly, I had ,1ust forgotten all about that, but since then I've
seen him and he's always been very pleasant. I do know that he
and August Vollmer had mutual regard and respect for one another.
JRH: Do you remember anything they worked on together in particular?
Dean: No. When I had a case the District Attorney, Earl Warren, showed
he had a high respect for the Department by the way he worked
with the Berkeley Police Department.
JRK: Do you remember any stories he told about starting out the police
or anything like that?
Dean: If I tell you I wouldn't know whether they were stories I'd read
or heard about. Re wasn't one with a big ego telling about what
he did. He was telling what we were going to do. I've read
Parker's book and I've heard about him from men like old
Frank Waterbury and George Kohler, the father of the ex-postmaster
here who Just died recently.
JRH: Here's another event I see was around your time and I'm interested
in asking about it. Apparently there was a scandal in 1925 about
bail bonds. Do you remember?
Dean: No. I left in 1923. I hadn't heard anything about that.
You know, the Chief was very quick to act in an emergency of any
kind. I remember somebody tried to escape one time and ran into
a coal yard across the street and Vollmer went in after him. Ke
was faster than the old Desk Sergeant so after he went in after
the fellow, a hunk of coal hit him in the head and cut his head but
he went right in and grabbed the escapee and he wasn't a younp; man
then. I didn't see it, but I saw the cut on his head. I'll tell
you somebody I think could give you a lot of dope about Vollmer as
a man. That would be Rose Olavinovich. She was the daughter of
the Marshal of the City of Albany, but she was also the police
reporter for the Oakland Tribune assigned to the Berkeley Police
Department. She has a very retentive memory and I know we felt
that she was a member of the Department. That was her beat. I'm
certain she knows a lot of interesting incidents.
JRH: I don't know if you want to put this on tape, but you mentioned
that Vollmer wrote to you during the time you were a prisoner of
war.
Dean: I received two nice letters. I have a secretary that comes on
Mondays and she might be able to find the letters. They were Just
pleasant letters telling me what O.W. Wilson was doing and what
Ralph Proctor was doing.
JRH: Was it pretty quiet here at night when you were on the force?
Dean: It was. We thought we had problems but we didn't.
JBH: You mentioned that Vollmer was one of the people trying to cure
people with druf: problems. What kind of drug problems did they
have then?
Dean: Using cocaine and heroin. It wasn't marijuana. I never heard
of marijuana until I went into the service and I was stationed
in Panama in 1926 to 1929. We had a number of men smoking
marijuana. Evidently it was grown very plentifully in the tropic
areas so for almost nothing they'd try it and then we'd have a
goofy man sometimes. That was in the service and the first I'd
seen it.
JRH: I guess the fraternities were the big thing on patrols in those
days.
Dean: Nothing really vicious happened. Only the freshmen or new members
and candidates for initiation had to do certain things and they'd
tell them to go steal a tombstone or something like that. They'd
usually have to go to San Francisco because they had to brine: back
an ancient one. Or an intoxicated fraternity boy would stagger
across campus at night on his way home and get rolled. They sent
me out to stagger along on campus at night a few times but I never
was rolled. Maybe I wasn't convincing enough.
10
INDEX ~ William Dean
Berkeley, City of
Police Department, 1-3, 8
population, 2
school traffic patrols , 3
Brereton, George, 3
California, State of
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, 3
Claremont District burglaries, 7
commuting burglars, 6-7
drug problems, 9
Elk's Club, 2
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 5
fingerprint system, 5
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, 7
Gamevell signal system, U
Glavinovich, Rose, 8
Gordon, Walter, 3
Hetch Hetchy San Francisco Water Project, 1
Hoar, Henry, 3
Hoover, J. Edgar, 5
Kohler, George, 8
Kokura, 5
Korea, 7
Ku Klux KLan, 7
Kyushu, 5
Larson, John, 3, 5
Lerch, General Archer, 7
Los Angeles Police Department, k
MacArthur, Douglas, 1
Marshall, George, 1
modus operand! (M.O.), 5
Okinawa, 5
11
police procedures, passim
Parker, Alfred E. , 8
Crime Fighter: August Vollner, 8
pri soner-of-var letters, 8
Proctor, Ralph, 8
San Francisco, 7
San Pablo Avenue, 2
San Quentin, 5
Shattuck Avenue, U
Taylor, Clarence, 1
Telegraph Avenue , U
Thayer, Kenneth, 1
University of California at Berkeley
fraternities, 9
School of Criminology, U-5
Warren, Earl, 7-8
Waterbury, Frank, 8
Wilson, Orlando W. , 3, 5, 8
University of California Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollaer Historical Project
Rose Glavinovich
COVERING THE BERKELEY POLICE DEPARTMENT:
AUGUST VOLLMER AND THE PRESS
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
© 1972 by The Regents of The University of California
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
April 21, 1992
Rose Glavinovich
Rose Glavinovich, a reporter
who covered Berkeley for the Oak
land Tribune for 42 years, died Sat
urday night at Alta Bates Hospital
In Berkeley at the age of 101.
Services are pending.
Ms. Glavinovich was born in
San Francisco and moved to the
East Bay after the 1906 earthquake
and fire destroyed the family
home.
Her first newspaper job was as
a society reporter with the old
Berkeley Gazette. She moved to
the Tribune's Berkeley bureau in
1919, where she covered police
news, the courts, the university
campus and general city affairs
until her retirement in 1981.
Ms. Glavinovich was known to
instill fear in young reporters en
trusted to her care. Those who
passed muster called themselves
"Rose's Boys."
There are no immediate survi
vors.
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Rose Glavinovich was interviewed by Jane Howard as part of a series on
the personal and professional life of August Vollmer. Since
Miss Glavinovich served as a press reporter for the Oakland Tribune
stationed at the Berkeley Police Department for over 30 years, she brings
the point of view of a Journalist to the interview.
Interviewer :
Time and Setting of
the Interview:
Narrative Account
of Rose Glavinovich
and the Progress of
the Interview:
Jane Howard
The interview was conducted on July 15, 1971, in
Miss Glavinovich ' s comfortable Berkeley Hills home.
The interview began at around 10 a.m. and concluded
around noon. Editing of the transcribed tapes was
done by Jane Howard. Minimal changes were made, in
spelling and punctuation; paranthetical comments were
added to provide clarity. Miss Glavinovich reviewed
the transcript and made only minor revisions.
Rose Glavinovich, daughter of an Albany, California,
Chief of Police, worked as an Oakland Tribune reporter
for over 30 years. She was stationed, during most of
her career, in the Berkeley Police Department. She
rose over the years to be Dean of the Berkeley Press
Corps. On her retirement she was made an honorary
policewoman. Miss Glavinovich became a close friend
of Mr. Vollmer1 s and provided the Berkeley Police
Department with very extensive news coverage over the
years .
The tape begins with an account of two of Mr. Vollmer1 s
contributions to law enforcement : introduction of
scientific principles and of the "golden rule" principle.
Rose Glavinovich then talks about her relation to the
police department and how she became a reporter at
the Berkeley Police Department and of the unusually
open and close working relationship between bay area
press and the Vollmer police department.
She recalls the day of Vollmer 's death and the diffi
culty she had managing to fill her responsibilities as
a reporter when the suicide was of a man she had
worked with so closely.
ii
Rose Glavinovlch (contd. )
The dialogue turns to the encouragement Vollmer gave
to many employees, friends and city officials.
Miss Glavinovich closes with a fev comments on
Vollmer 's wives.
Jane Howard
RG: Vollmer was a young letter carrier in Berkeley when he was
persuaded to run for town Marshal on a reform ticket.
JRH: Was that before the Progressive Party or what kind of a reform
ticket, Republican reform ticket or Just non-partisan?
RG: Non-partisan. Not a formal party — Just people who wanted a
change. I'm sure it was Just before the San Francisco fire.
I only moved to this side of the Bay after the fire in San
Francisco — a couple of years after we lost our home. So I
am not too conversant with that, but he became interested and
told me once that he went to bed election night and said we've
won because they made a very intensive campaign throughout the
city and contacted people, so he practically counted votes.
After he took over this very small police department, he became
interested in police techniques. He started what was then
called "The Golden Rule Police Department,1' where everybody
had good manners for everybody else. You treated people as
humans and you were not the traditional policemen. And, he
started then to institute a whole series of reforms which were
adopted throughout the country and the world. Vollmer-t rained
policemen went out into the world to spread the "new gospel1'
of enlightened criminology.
For instance, so that more ground could be covered than on foot
he put his men on bicycles first, then in the old Model T Fords.
It was fascinating. There were some very big men in the depart
ment and they had to get in the old Model T sitting behind the
wheels all scrunched up. Eventually complete motorization
evolved into the men operating their own cars with upkeep paid
by the city. For years they owned their own cars. He did many
things to bring the police department closer to the people.
He fought through the years for better working conditions and
salaries — all these things for his men. Sometimes there were
near serious consequences , as I recall one instance under the
first City Manager. The men were badly underpaid and I remem
ber being in a little plot with Vollmer which ve never admitted
RG: to the City Manager. Some of the men at that time were going
to the University and working night shifts to get degrees.
These were the first college-educated policemen — to bring
nation-wide publicity to Berkeley and the pioneers in setting
high standards for lav enforcement . There came a time when
quite a few of them were graduating and were going off to
various pursuits. To focus attention on the underpaid condition
of the department, we concocted a story of these men leaving
because of this and the City Manager was incensed. He ended
up calling Vollmer and me up to his office and said to Vollmer,
"Did you have any part of this?" We had agreed ahead of time
that he had no part of it, knew nothing about it, I was the
guilty party because I wasn't working for the city. I said no
he did not. He said, "If you had I would have fired you." The
men got a raise 1
JRH: Do you think the City Manager suspected Vollmer?
RG: He suspected, sure. He was an intelligent man. He knew that
Vollmer was a very astute person too, but I polled the City
Council and we had the votes in the bag and we got the raise.
Which was very necessary. He fought for his men constantly.
He never let them down at any time.
JRH: Did you have to go through that again later on?
RG: Later on the Council was aware of the situation and city employees
were becoming more organized. Raises were coming along more
automatically. But there was still a struggle to get adequate
pay and in recent years it was easier, or was until the so-called
"radicals" were elected. That first "showdown" was under the
first City Manager, John F. Edy who was really a very fine man.
Frankly, he was resentful somewhat and I'm sure I'm not the only
one who says this, that Vollmer was a bigger man in the community
than he was and that was natural.
When I went down to the Berkeley Police Department during the
first world war (if you want some of the human side of Vollmer),
I was the first woman ever to cover a police station in this
area. The Oakland Tribune had a shortage of men at that time,
so I was Just a war casualty. I had known him before but not
too well. So when I went down, I was the only woman around
that place, not even a policewoman. The men of course didn't
know exactly how to take it. The Police Department was in the
basement of the City Hall. The Squad Room and Press Room were
one so we were very close and intimate. Vollmer was so very
helpful in many ways and it wasn't long before I was accepted
without any qualms. The newspaper men who were down there cover
ing were good friends of mine and they helped me out too, so it
RG: was very good. Then, in those days too, they had no policewoman
and I would "double" once in awhile when they needed a woman to
be with an officer if a woman was being searched. They'd say,
"Come and help out" and of course I would, so that it worked
both ways.
Vollmer became interested in new and modern police techniques .
He attracted attention from all over. It was he who brought
in Dr. John Larson with his first lie detector. It was a very
clumsy device and it looked like an infernal machine. John was
the first Ph.D. policeman in the country. He did many experi
ments and was the one who started Leonard Keeler on his way.
Keeler in Chicago became an eminent lie detector authority (he's
dead now).
JRH: Vollmer must have had a lot of original ideas, but you and the
other press people must have been a big factor in his getting
them known.
RG: Of course, he was news I
JRfl: Did he tell you what he would like to see printed or how did it
work out?
RG: lie Just made the news. He started innovations and they were news,
It Just naturally worked out as news. He was very conscious of
the value of publicity, not as personal publicity, but for the
ideas and ideals he had in police work. He was responsible for
raising the standards throughout the country. Men from his
department were constantly being loaned for reorganization of
other police departments — some to take permanent (more or
less) positions and others going into teaching at colleges and
universities. People came from all over the world.
And then of course he encouraged the scientific aspect of police
investigation through such men as E.O. Heinrich, who became an
outstanding criminologist , Heinrich was called in with his
microscopes and apparatus on various murders. Remember we had
a Tule Marsh murder in El Cerrito. Heinrich came down and he
literally had a rag and a bone and a hank of hair but he gave a
description of the woman who was murdered. It tallied and they
fianlly identified her. Then he had a Dr. Kirk, (the crimino
logist) who was with the University for years, and who died not
too long ago, was another one he used and encouraged. He was a
very humane and outgoing person. He was the kind of person who
was interested in everybody. When you talked to him you were
the only person in the world in whom he was interested.
RG: He had a very close relationship with the press, but he demanded
honesty and cooperation — fair play. In other words, with a
wide-open Police Department the press had access to all records.
JRH: That would be unbelievably rare today. Was it unusual then?
RG1: It was unusual. It is not so today because some reporters be
trayed confidence and records are now closed at Berkeley. But
in the years I worked there I could go to the file myself and
take out any report I wanted without asking anybody about it.
Also the other press people. There were the San Francisco papers:
the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, the Daily
News . the Berkeley Daily Gazette, the Oakland Post Inquirer,
some of which are now extinct.
It was "open sesame" which was just fine except if something went
wrong. I remember one time an Examiner man, an old friend of
Vollaer's and a good friend of mine, and a couple of the other
boys during Prohibition, swiped some evidence of liquor. Vollmer
barred them from the police station, the farthest they could get
for their period of punishment was the outer counter and they
had to rely on friends inside to help them out. I don't remember
whether they took it or substituted it or what , but nevertheless ,
the evidence was gone. If Vollmer found someone who betrayed a
confidence or betrayed a trust, he didn't hesitate to do some
thing about it. This worked beautifully. There wasn't any
police department in this area for which newspaper people had
more respect and as you said we don't get these things elsewhere.
This is unusual.
He always had time; he was a good friend and when he was a good
friend you were a good friend. He always tried to think of
things to help you. Some of the best exclusive stories I've ever
had came from Vollmer.
JRH: He wouldn't give them to the other people, but you were the first
sometimes?
RG: Once in awhile he might, but if you were good he'd slip them
to you. They were off-department, extra-curricular things, if
you know what I mean. I remember a beautiful love nest with
a University professor's niece that he tipped me off to. It
was stupendous and it had no connection with the Berkeley Depart
ment at all, it was Just something he knew about. I sat on
that story over a weekend. The "love birds" went for it,
pictures and everything, they were proud of themselves. At that
time it was unusual; today it wouldn't mean anything.
RG: He went to other countries: Germany, China, all over. I think
he vent to Germany, but I might be a little vague on that.
(After off the tape discussion of whether to discuss the suicide:)
He had been ill for some time. His sight was bad and with com
plications he was in intense pain for a long time, many months.
He had said on occasion that if it got too bad, he would do this
thing that he did. They didn't have a complete biography of him
at the Police Station but they had a lot of material which they
gave to me and asked if I would get a biography together in the
event something happened, not dreaming what did happen would
happen. I got this together and they made copies of it so they
had it available. I remember sending this to my office some
weeks before, which was a lifesaver at the time of his death.
The morning that he committed suicide I was sitting in my office.
The early edition was off and I was at the office doing some
work when I heard a radio call with an address on Euclid Avenue,
a suicide by gunshot. I recognized the address. The men on the
Desk didn't. I called down and asked for the Captain of Detec
tives, who was Walter Johnson at that time, and I said, "Do you
know what address this is with the gunshot wound?" He said no
and I said, "It's Vollaer's."
I dashed up there with a chap who was working with me and arrived
Just as they were taking him away. I had been at the house a
number of times and I knew the housekeeper. She let me in the
house and it was some comfort to her because she was shaking and
threw her arms around me. It was the hardest story I ever covered.
I was on a first edition deadline and here was one of my best
friends who had done this , but I had to get on the telephone and
I did. They fortunately had this biography and I know the chap
who was with me said that I turned white and he thought I was
going to faint. Very soon other newspaper men came up and for
some time afterwards they were downstair* in his study. Much
to their chagrin I was upstairs. I'll never forget the anguish
of going through that.
JRH: You had to call and give the whole story right away?
RG: Yes. To meet a deadline. But what could you do?
Vollmer was a very good friend and he would give me excellent
advice. I remember when I was younger and ambitious, I wanted
to get away and do bigger and better things . I thought , "Oh
heck, covering this police beat was fun and I enjoyed it and
the Tribune was marvelous to work for, but I thought I should
like to go abroad or do something, reach out. I remember him
saying this to me, and I've never forgotten his answer. He
said, "Remember, wherever you go, you take yourself with you
and if you are not happy here you won't be happy there."
RG: I wasn't particularly unhappy but I thought about it and when I
had offers from other papers , I stayed with the Tribune where I
was really happy. Anytime I had problems and wanted to talk
things over, there was a man ready to listen and straighten you
out.
JRH: That's interesting. He must have done that for an awful lot of
people .
RG: He was interested in so many people. People came from all over.
He had many men and women with personal problems come to him.
Not on a police basis, but they could have been police aspects.
I'll never forget one father who had a son he couldn't do anything
with. Vollmer brought him down, kept him in the Police Station for
awhile, locked him up to discipline him and it straightened him
out. The guy is now very respectable and I won't mention his
name, but you'd know it if I mentioned it. Vollmer did so many
things for so many people ; family friends , personal friends ,
city officials. He was very close to everybody.
(Pause here. Tape turned off.) I started in as a novice on
the Berkeley Daily Gazette. Didn't know anything about newspaper
work at all. They called me up and said come to work. I had
never asked for a newspaper Job in my life.
JRH: How did they think to ask you?
RG: I knew the City Editor on the Gazette slightly and he said they
needed a society editor and to come on down. I said, "Oh, my
God, I've never done it." So I went. I was young and green.
During the war I'd done other things besides society and I had
done some interesting news stories on the Gazette. Apparently
the men on the beat thought I'd developed into a pretty good
newspaper woman, so when the Tribune took its Berkeley corres
pondent into the Oakland office to become Assistant City Editor,
they asked me to take his Job. At that time, it covered the
entire city, the University. You had no automobile so you went
around on foot, so subsequently thereafter, I got my first car.
It was one of those struggles where you used the streetcars and
it was Just terrific and you wonder now how you did it.
I had met Vollmer when I had been working for the Gazette and I
knew him and his first wife, Itfdia Sturtevant slightly and soci
ally. Then when I went to the Police Station I said, "Here I am"
and he said, "Fine." He took me under his wing and that was it.
JRH: Not many people knew his first wife. Did you have much contact
with her?
RG: She was a singer and had a studio. She taught voice on Shattuck
Avenue upstairs where Penney 's is now. She was a rather buxom,
attractive, dark-haired woman. Then I knew his second wife,
Millicent called "Pat." They married in Los Angeles.
Did anybody tell you about the Los Angeles so-called scandal?
JRH: No.
RG: I'm a little vague on this, but when he went down to Los Angeles
to reorganize the police department, some woman brought charges
against him but I can't remember what they were. Why don't you
go down to the Oakland Tribune office files on Vollmer? I'll
give you a letter. They have very complete files. This woman's
charges would probably be in there.
JRH: That would be a good idea, because I'd never heard of this and
there's probably a lot of things there that no one's talked about,
RG: I can't remember what it was, but it was something of an intimate
nature. Right after that he married Pat to spike the guns. It
was a nuisance tactic in retaliation for his police investigation
down there.
JRH: You mentioned how you got to know him.
RG: I knew of him before I met him. He was a charming person, good
looking, outgoing, fun loving, we had more fun.
(Phone rang. After returning, Miss Glavinovich said she felt
she had really said all she had to say.)
8
INDEX ~ Rose Glavinovich
Berkeley, City of
City Manager, 1-2
City Hall, 2
criminology, "enlightened", 1
Edy, John F. , 2
"Golden Rule Police Department", 1
Heinrich, E.O. , 3
Johnson, Walter, 5
Keeler, Leonard, 3
Kirk, Dr. Paul, 3
Larson, John, 3
Los Angeles Police Department, 7
non-partisan politics, 1
newspapers
Berkeley Daily Gazette. U, 6
Daily Nevs , U
Oakland Post Inquirer, U
Oakland Tribune, 2, 6
San Francisco Chronicle, U
San Francisco Examiner, U
police procedures, 1-U
San Francisco fire, 1
Sturtevant , Lydia, 6-7
Tule Marsh murder case, 3
Vollmer, Millicent "Pat", 7
..) J
Gene B. Woods
A.L. Coffey
George Brereton
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Gene Woods was Interviewed by Jane Howard as part- of the August Vollmer
series. Mr. Woods, a patrolman under August Vollmer vho retired due to
injuries sustained in the line of duty, brought the point of view of a
patrolman to the series.
Interviewer
Jane Howard
Time and Setting A single interview was held on July 23, 1971, at the
of the Interview: interviewer's Oakland apartment. A friend of Mr. Woods
sat in on the interview without commenting. The inter
view began at 1 p.m. and ended at 2 p.m.
Editing: Editing was done by Jane Howard. Punctuation and gram
matical errors were corrected. Mr. Woods also edited
the interview, making only minor grammatical changes. He
corrected the spelling of several names.
Narrative Account
of Mr. Woods and Gene Woods was born in Berkeley about 1902. He became
the Progress of interested in police work during high school and served
the Interview: as a volunteer for the Berkeley Police Department during
his last years in high school.
Mr. Woods went to work as August Vollmer 's secretary upon
graduation and served in several positions within the
Berkeley Police Department until he was forced to retire
in 1931 due to police service related disabilities.
He gradually regained his health, however, and returned
to work to serve as police chief in several small cities.
He is now retired and lives in Walnut Creek.
Mr. Woods opens the interview with the recollection that
he came to work for the Berkeley Police Department right
after World War I; he took the Job since it was the first
one to come up and he needed work.
Mr. Woods had known Mr. Vollmer as a boy; he remembers
getting chocolates at Vollmer's office.
Mr. Woods' first police Job was as a secretary to Vollmer;
he subsequently learned many phases of police work.
Mr. Woods recounts an incident in which he felt the
Acting Chief of Police, John Greening, attempted to frame
him and several other policemen. He discusses his fight
for vindication and reinstatement.
ii
Gene Woods (contd. )
The discussion turns to Mr. Woods' fscling that Vollmer's
way of looking people over when they cane to see him
reflected some inner weakness of Vollmer's. Mr. Woods
tried over the years to get Vollmer to explain this
mannerism, but never succeeded.
Woods then tells of his retirement from the force due
to injuries sustained on the Job, followed by gradual
recovery of physical strength. He recalls he was then
helped to return to work by Gene Biccailuz, then a
Captain in the Los Angeles Police Department , and sub
sequently by Vollmer.
Gene Woods states that he thinks everyone who ever worked
with Vollmer admired him. He recalled, however, an
incident when Vollmer did not take action against a
police officer who beat him and another young school boy.
Mr. Woods took J. Edgar Hoover around California in 1926
to show him some California innovations in law enforce
ment.
Mr. Woods discusses Vollmer's "crab meeting" training
sessions and his emphasis on police training. The
interview closes with a story illustrating why he
believes, from personal experience, that capital punish
ment is necessary.
Woods: My name is Gene Woods, there's a "B" in the middle of it.
With relation to August Vollmer and dating on back to my
first knowledge of him, I was probably around six or seven
years of age. At that time he was a letter carrier in the
Post Office Department.
JRH: You grew up, then, in Berkeley.
Woods: I was born in Berkeley. Vollmer became the first Marshal of
the City of Berkeley. When the populace grew sufficiently,
he became the first Chief and remained in that capacity. My
dad had been in police work and he and August Vollmer were
very good friends. It had no basis or bearing upon my be
coming a member of the Department. In fact, my dad was
opposed to my becoming a member. I think that he was fearful
that I wouldn't be able to pass the examination. I wasn't
raised by my dad.
JRH: We have Chief Holstrom working with us; ne put together some
of the names for us and he mentioned that your father did a
survey in Nanking.
Woods: Yes, he did go out there. Of course, he's been dead since
19U5. So, well with Vollmer, I had known him as a little
boy and then as I grew up, I got to know him. I was in the
service in World War I. When I came out of the service, I
was casting about to find a Job. It wasn't like it is today,
they weren't finding Jobs for veterans. Anyway, I went to
work for a railroad, and I got cut out at the 'board' a few
times and that was unbearable. That's when I came back down
to Berkeley. I took the examination in Berkeley, Oakland,
San Francisco and Alameda. They didn't have an examination
in Alameda, but I filed anyway, looking for a Job. I had
talked to my dad. August Vollmer was away at that time,
when I took the examination. He was back in Los Angeles.
I took this examination and then I was out to get the first
Job that came up. I was hungry. That was the first one
that came about and I took it.
JRH: Do you remember whether or not you were still as impressed
with him as when you vere a child?
Woods: Oh yes, as a child, he was a fabulous man. lie was then, of
course, a young man. Of course, I vas still somewhat of a
kid. August Vollmer always liked all the kids in the neigh
borhood. He never got married until he was quite along in
years. When he got married the first time, he married a
woman who was a professional woman, a pianist and a singer.
It didn't last very long and then he was single for a long
time.
First, before he was ever married, he treated us kids. We'd
all flock around the old Police Department upstairs at Shat-
tuck and Allston Way, right across from wnat is now the
Shattuck Hotel. We'd all flock over there and he always
treated us very nice. He'd generally always have in his
desk some chocolates or something, maybe there 'd be eight or
ten of us kids. He was trying to point out things for us.
Across the street on Shattuck Avenue there was a YMCA and
that's where we boys should go, if we could get our parents
to put up the money for us to attend.
That was part of what he undertook to do. To handle the kids
and the first thing you know, we became very fond and had a
love for him as we would a parent. That's mostly kids that
knew him from childhood. It didn't seen like there were many
in the Department in these past years, that had ever known
him in that capacity. As a young man, as he was then, we
had all admired him so much.
Then, I think the first communications I got from him was
after I passed the examination. He sent me a letter when
he learned of it to welcome me into the fold; and ne hoped
that I would carry on and do something in police work. He
hoped this for all of us who had passed the examination.
He had pointed out to me that a great many which he tried
to encourage were these fellows going to college, to the
University of California. He hoped that I would finish my
education and go to college and that I would be able to do
such, as he pointed out in his communication to me. It
was a very nice letter, where that one went, I don't know.
It was a nice one, because it was something of encourage
ment; to try to get you to do.
Woods: Well then, he returned and one of the things that he placed
in vogue that had not been before that time, requiring
everyone of us, we had to learn to punch a typewriter,
touch system. I was already capable of that. I could write
shorthand, so that was very good. So then, I was working
in the Identification Bureau or in the Record Bureau when
I first went in. Then after he returned (I'd been in the
street in the meantime and back in) he called me in the
office, and said, "Gene, you can write shorthand, I under
stand." I said, "Oh, Just a smattering knowledge." I
didn't want him to think I knew too much.
I had learned enough about August Vollmer, and you might have
been told by some, that August Vollmer, I think had three
years of schooling. He passed the Bar examination without
ever going to school. He gained all that by himself, he was
a self-educated man. He was a master of language and me,
taking his dictation. I'll tell you, it was rough I The
man, he knew in the vernacular of the people that he dealt
with, to use the language that they would throughly under
stand. That was his method, of trying to point out to you
never talk over the heads of people you're dealing with.
I'll tell you a little example pertaining to that.
JRH: Yeah, that'll be good.
Woods: I went in to work for him. I didn't want to stay in there
very long and I told him so. I got very well acquainted
with him. I asked him no less than ten times, a question
that he very capably avoided answering even up to five or
six days before he committed suicide. I was visiting with
him Just at that time. I visited with him at least once a
month.
After I came out of World War II, whenever the opportunity
presented itself, I wouldn't even bother calling the Chief,
I'd Just take a run up there on Euclid Avenue and stop in
and visit him. He always made me very walcome. I'm going
around in circles trying to tell you some of the things
that happened.
Well, he went to work, to tell me, he said, "Gene, I want
you to learn every phase of police work." Every man has to
qualify in identification and fingerprints, every man has to
be able to classify, every man has to have a knowledge of
blood, of powder, of everything. How to take a Plaster of
Woods: Paris casts of the various things. We're going to elevate
this, so when you're sent out to pick up any latent finger
prints, you're going to know how to use the camera. Everyone
had to learn photography, something, so that you'd have a
smattering knowledge. Then you will not destroy any latent
prints of any evidence that may have been left at the scene
where a crime had been committed. These were the things
that he was propounding into our skulls to make us understand
what we had to do. He could do it in such a manner that you
appreciated it.
Then one of his successors, a man that, and I very openly say
that I disliked very much, a man by the name of Jack Greening.
John A. Greening. He was Chief of Police. He was Acting-Chief,
at one stage. He and my dad met this way, they hated one
another, so I was the recipient of a lot of mistreatment from
Jack Greening. He did everything he could to injure me.
At any rate, I went on through with the guidance of August
Vollmer. He was away and then he returned. He went back
to Chicago. When he returned, I was ailing. In 1931, August
Vollmer said, "Well, Gene, within six month's time or there
abouts I intend to take my pension. In all probability Jack
Greening will become Chief. I want you to take your pension
before I leave. I don't want anything to happen to you." I
said, "How you can avoid that is to see to it that that man
does not become Chief. He's not eligible for it." In my
estimation he was a disgrace to the Police Department. The
manner in which he treated some of the people. He would
place men out to try and get something on the different ones
and he framed five of us in the Department. One of them
became Chief of the State Bureau of Identification in Sacra
mento. A year ago he retired from up there and that was
George Brereton.
JRH: I wrote him a letter. I haven't heard from him yet, though.
Woods: "Well, George Brereton, he might not want to tell you about
this. Jack Greening had one of these undercover agents, he
then had him appointed as a member of the Police Department
without examination. He had this man go to work and plant —
we worked long, long hours to raid the places throughout
West Berkeley and all places that were going against the law
(bootlegging and other things in the area). We worked, in
my case I'd gone to work at 8:00 in the morning and was still
working at U:00 the next morning. We went out on these raids.
Woods: We never got any time off or anything for that. As I say,
at this time Vollmer was gone, when these things were
happening.
So then he had this man go out and plant vine in our cars.
I'd gone home at U:30 that morning, dead tired and vent to
bed. Around 7:30 or 8:00 that morning, I got a call on the
phone. "This is the Chief." I said, "Yes, Chief." I didn't
know vhat time it vas. He said, "Get rignt on up here and
bring that booze that you got." I said, "I haven't got any
booze, vhat 're you talking about?" He said, "You have so, ve
already found it, you've got it in your car. You bring it
right on up here." I very foolishly, I vas very dumb in
that respect, I never believed that I could have destroyed
that vine and he'd have had no evidence on me. So, neverthe
less I vent on up there and there vere five of us that vere
involved. Then, he vent right to the City Manager and ve
vere summarily dismissed from the Department.
I wouldn't take it sitting down. I vas a fighter for vhat
vas right. So I got another member of the Department also
charged, G rover Mull, a full-blooded Indian, I was telling
you about him. Well, I talked vith Grover, he lived a fev
blocks from me, and ve vere working almost on starvation,
ve didn't have an extra dime to get along on. I wouldn't
stop at that , I vas going back and Jack Greening vas not the
Chief. He vasn't even Acting-Chief. Clarence Lee, he's
still living, he's the oldest man...
JRH: Clarence Lee?
Woods: That's right! he vas Chief at that time. I still voiced
myself very clearly, regardless, vhere it goes. He acted
like a man vith a backbone of vet spaghetti. He vas afraid
to stand up in behalf of a man against anything. A nice
person, a very good man in his field as far as the Identifi
cation Bureau. A very vonderful man.
So, Clarence vas the Chief, so vhen ve vent up, ve couldn't
get a hearing. Finally, I vent up there and said, "My God,"
plain language, "We're going to follov this thing through."
Not one of these fellows vould go vith me. I vent up to the
police station and walked right into the Chief's office.
Clarence Lee was there and I took him by the arm, I said,
"You're going right up that spiral stairvay, you're going
Woods: with me up there to see John N. Edy, the City Manager.
We're going to have an understanding and have this thing
out." "I got this to do and that to do." I said, "To
hell with that, you're going with me now." I took him by
the arm and we marched up there. There was a little narrow
stairway going up. We got up there and into the City Mana
ger's outer office. He looked out and he knew me. He said,
"What are you doing here. Gene?" I said, "The Chief and I
want to have a little conversation with you." He said, "Oh,
I'm very busy." I said, "I can't help that, this is a very
important thing to me and I've got to see you now. The
Chief's got some very important things to do too."
Okay, we went in and I said, "Let me start this off by tell
ing you what a rotten deal five of us ha>re been given and
all the publicity, you've gone along witn to fire all of us
without a hearing. It's a dirty lousy thing for you to do
as City Manager. Mr. John N. Edy, I'm going to tell you the
truth of what happened, who placed this wine in our cars.
I've learned since who the man is. He's a red-head. I
can't think of the man's name. The man was a red-head and
he was John Greening's undercover Agent and he planted this
wine in the different cars.
"Then, we have been given this kind of treatment. I've had
to dodge the newspapers so they can't take pictures of my
self and some of the rest of us. I'm determined that we have
a hearing and have an opportunity to defend ourselves. What
chance have we got, if we go out of here with the kind of
publicity you're responsible for giving us? I think it's a
dirty stinking thing for you to be a part of. For this Chief
here, Clarence Lee, this Acting-Chief to go along with, let
a man pull the wool over his eyes, I don't like it a bit.
I'm going to be given a fair chance."
So he said, "Okay, I'm going to get my secretary to take
everything down." So I had to go through this again and
tell the whole story again. He said to me, "You wait
downstairs in the office." This was five days after this
took place, trying to get to see him. So the rest of them
were about ready to move out and leave town. At any rate,
we managed to get a hearing. Finally, he came up with the
idea that he was going to fine all of us $100.00. I said,
"That might go, but I'm going to fight for restoration of
that too."
JRH: So, you got back on....
Woods: Yes, we were reinstated and I fought for it. I vent before
the City Council, when they weren't going to gire it to me,
so I fought to see that we got it. The rest of these fellows,
not one of them would go with me, so I went up, I feared no
one, I thought right was right and it will come out in our
favor. I went before them to preach this whole story to them
and I was condemning Jack Greening a great deal, and Clarence
Lee too, for not having backbone enough to stand up and give
us our rights. To publicize such a thing, to give the City a
bad name, the Police Department a bad name und maybe we couldn't
get a Job and so on. It boils me up even nov thinking about it,
but it went through.
When Vollmer came back, he called me in and we sat down together
for about three hours discussing the whole story. Then he,
August Vollmer, got the different ones in there to talk and
finally all of us were in there together. Then he informed them
of what I had told him previously, he wanted to know if they
agreed. They didn't know of my going upstairs with Clarence Lee
or anything. Then Vollmer commended me for standing up for what
was right and fighting for it. He was very happy to know that
we were not involved as we had been accused.
I went back to him later, because I was back in the office quite
a good deal from one department to another department within our
department. I had many tines to talk to him. One of the things
I asked, this was earlier, "Chief, I've been around you a great
deal, I've been before you, I've taken dictation from you, I've
been sent on missions by you here and there. I've been with you
to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, going along
with you to take and transcribe some of the things that transpired
there when you were going through the chairs and all. I think I
know you pretty well, and I've been wondering, I want to know
why, not for myself, cause you've never worried me, most of the
men who come into that office, whether they're called in by you
or whether they're asking for time to see you and your door is
always open to them to come in. Why is it you make them so damn
uncomfortable?
"Every man that comes before you, you see him looking himself up
and down; but you look at him, glance down and you look him
8
Woods: over. You look from one side to the other, like you're
looking to see whether that man shaved today, whether
he's got spots on his uniform, whether he needs a haircut
or whatever. You make him so damn uncomfortable that he
forgets some of the things that he came in to ask you.
I want to know if you got a weakness of some kind, what is
wrong? There must be something that you're trying to pre
vent us from asking you. There must be something, some kind
of weakness."
He avoided it, he'd smile a little. He was not the kind of
man to go around grinning and smiling. He was a very serious
man, very serious in nature and a very grand person to work
with and go around for.
I went to Southern California to die. Sixteen so-called
specialists told me that I couldn't live over a year. That
was one of the reasons why Vollmer wanted me to get my
pension, to get out, whether I survived or not.
JRH: This was in 1930, huh?
Woods: No, that was prior to then. I got my pension then, this was
while I was still in the department. I went up there to add
the little bit I knew to help Gene Biscailuz. I became very
closely acquainted with him. He had been the Captain of the
Sheriff's office in Los Angeles. After I got my pension he'd
become under-Sheriff and then Sheriff. He served the longest
time of anyone, I guess in the United States as Sheriff. He
only died a little over a year ago. I wanted to go into see
him, I hadn't driven a car, my legs got so I could walk pretty
good. I had to drag one side as I'd walk, my right side. I
had no use, my hand, I couldn't use it. If I wanted to pick
up anything I had to wear a sock, my fingernails were gone.
JRH: You've come all the way back. You're not paralyzed anymore.
Woods: Oh, I'm in pretty good shape today, for an old man. I was
very quiet on that old man part. I went in to see him,
Gene Biscailuz, and of course, I'd worn a sock. I had a
pet, a dog that took me as his pal, instead of me taking in
the dog. I used to walk, it would take me over an hour to
go a distance of a quarter of a mile up to the sand dunes.
Day after day, I'd go up there and strip my clothes off;
down to my shorts only, in the sand dunes. I'd take two
Woods: pieces of bread and put some jam on it, that was for the
dog and myself. We'd go up there and I'd be up there most
of the day and finally one day in March, I had no use at
all in my right hand, if I wanted to pick it up, I'd pick
it up and it'd fall down. I couldn't control it.
Then I tried to get up one day and I went to use my right
arm and I used it a little bit and it worked. A few days
after that I went in to see Gene Biscailuz and, after
talking with Gene Biscailuz, he invited me to go. At that
time, of course, I was way down in my weight, weighing at
that time probably a good Uo or 50 pounds less than my
normal weight, but I'd gained some. He took me over to a
Shrine luncheon with him. I felt very inadequate going
with him, as I felt I wasn't dressed very good and my
clothes looked a bit shabby. I went over with him and we
came on back, he said, "Now, Gene I want you to... in the
next two or three days... let's find my calendar." So we
went into his office and got in there and he looked his
calendar over and called somebody on the phone and said,
"Gene, can you be back, I think this wao on a Monday or
Tuesday, I want you back here on Thursday. Can you be
here at 10:00 Thursday morning?" I said to him, "Gene,
I can be here at U:00, anytime you say." So I went back
in and I had quite a visit with him that day.
We had lunch and he stuck $50.00 in my pocket, this was
after we got back from the Shrine lunch. He said, "Any
thing you need, you let me know, I've got a little fund
and that's what I've got it for." I didn't know what he
had put in my pocket, in fact, I didn't even know about
this money until I got home. When I went on back, he
said, "I've got a Job for you. You're going to either
assist or head up the investigation for the Los Angeles
County Grand Jury. That pays the same salary as the
Chief of Police for the city of Los Angeles. There is
only a few months to go on that , but that will put you
on your feet and give you something to do."
Then about this time Vollmer communicated with me and there
was a post for me to be interviewed on, to take on investi
gation in that city. So I went to, on my own I became Chief
of Police in a few different cities that I went to here and
there. To reorganize them or to assist in reorganizing them.
10
Woods: So Vollraer, every time he commended me very highly and
told me he'd been in communication with those people
and they told him that I'd did a very fine Job and that
they liked me very much because I'd tried to be right
down to earth and I'd gained the respect of the men under
my command. Of course, when you go to one of these
departments, there's men that have alwayu been chief of
that department, and they're not working in your behalf.
I'll tell you one of the things about Vollraer, in his
trying to instill in our minds things that we must do
and how we must conduct ourselves (you may have talked
to O.W. Wilson).
JRH: Yes.
Woods: Well, O.W. Wilson and I were close friends. I visited him
back in Wichita and he visited me. Then he came to Los
Angeles, where I'd been in Pasadena to reorganize that one.
He came there for the same purpose — to make a survey. Prior
to that when we were both in the same Police Department in
Berkeley, we were sent to West Berkeley to meet with a group
of people consisting of about 150 or 200 (whatever it was)
they were in the category of laboring class, truck drivers
and wives and all and quite a number of people there. They
had a lot of questions and they wanted us to deliver a few
of the "Dos" and "Don'ts" and so forth and what is required
of a policeman and all; and what we requested of the public.
What we were to do was to try to inform them of the things
and answer any questions.
O.W. said to me, "Gene, I'm 15 minutes older than you are
in the department, so let me take the first portion." Well,
he talked and talked for a good half an hour and I told him,
"Whatever you do, O.W., don't talk over 15 minutes, let them
ask questions." By the time you've talked thirty minutes or
over fifteen minutes you've lost most of them, their minds
are elsewhere or they're lighting cigarettes or carrying on
a few conversations."
Okay, when he got through, he said, "Do you want to take
over?" I said, "No." When we left there he said, "Well,
I guess I told them." I said, "Yes, you told them, what
damn fools we police are. Those people haven't got any
more respect for you than they have for the garbage man
11
Woods: or anyone else. You talked way over their heads, about half of
the time, which wasn't true. I didn't know what you were talking
about. You used language that those people didn't understand.
I know you graduated with honors in letters and science, but as
far as being an intelligent person, you're a dumb ox." At any
rate, we always got along. So, getting back to August Vollmer.
With August Vollmer, the last few times I visited with him he
talked and of course, this what do they call it? He had
Parkinson's Disease. I asked him one of the questions I had
already asked him — I guess I asked as many questions as anyone
who ever worked for him asked. I loved the man and I thought so
much of him. I felt that I was so close to him that I could
confide in him anything I wanted to. I asked him, "Chief, I
would like to know something from you. Is a men who takes his
life, whether he jumps over the bridge or whether he shoots
himself to death or whatever means that he destroys his body,
is he a coward or is he a brave man?" He didn't answer the question.
I asked him repeatedly. I said, "I have to have a direct answer."
He said, "I wouldn't be able to answer that question." That
was the closest he ever came to telling the truth. I think that
he even evaded a direct answer of not being able to truly answer
that question. But I've asked him such questions.
JRH: You mentioned the other questions you asked him up towards his
death; whether or not... why he always looked people over.
Woods: He never would answer that. He'd always evade that question with
a smile. Only a half smile, because he was too serious-minded.
He said, "Well, you will formulate ideas of your own. Maybe thete
ideas of yours are strictly your own or may not be concurred in
by others." That would be the closest that he would come to ever
answering some of those questions. You may have learned that from
some of the other people.
But you may find and I think everyone that would speak up, I don't
think anyone would condemn him. I only condemned him once to
his face. One time I was very miserably beaten in that Police
Department by one man that's been dead and gone many years. I
made a good Samaritan out of him and that was Frank Waterbury. He
was one of those that whipped myself; me and another kid from
South Berkeley. We went in and two other officers helped him;
they stripped us down.
We had left school, we went to the Lincoln School in South Berkeley.
I lived there in the house with my brother. My dad and mother were
separated. We were only little kids; my brother is five years
older than myself. We went to school and it was getting near
Christmas time and we didn't have enough to eat. My dad was well
fixed; could well afford it. However, not condemning him — he's
12
Woods: been dead and gone for many years. I've forgiven bin in my heart
many times for the things that he failed to do, or did do, and
for failing to care for us. This Letter Richardson and myself —
Lester is still living in the Los Angeles area — we vent to the
Principal's office. I think we were in the fourth or fifth grade.
This was Just a few weeks before Christmas and we asked if ve
couldn't get out (we were far enough in our studies). We'd
already solicited all the stores in South Berkeley to get some
little Jobs to see if we could earn some Christmas money.
Both of us stated that we'd like to be able to get enough to send
something, a gift, to our mothers for Christmas. So the Principal
told us to get back and he reached for a strap — that was
Mr. Blum. He told us to get out. Well, Les Richardson shoved him
over in the svivel chair upsetting him. He pulled the key out of
the door and locked him in his room. We left from school. We
didn't know where we were going. We went on down the street a
ways half running. About two blocks fromthe school we bumped into
a man. I should remember his name, he was an ex-convict. We'd
never seen him before. He was only about twenty-three years old
and he saw us kids and he started talking to us and we walked
along with him. We were headed in the general direction from there
clear out to West Berkeley. We were in South Berkeley. We walked
<n the way along and he had money. He stopped and went into a
bakery and he bought some doughnuts and cookies. Boyl We thought
he was a great guy. We had a bite and went along with him.
Understand, this is the only thing that I went to Vollmer and
told him that I condemned him for not doing something about this
situation of how badly we were mistreated. So, we finally wound
up by going out to West Berkeley Wharf (the Pier) out to the end.
We got down into a rovboat. I don't know where we were going;
this guy's taking us for a ride (he's steal ing it). I think he was
starting to take us across the Bay and by this time we were dis
covered and water... one of the police officers was shooting at us
out there in a boat. Three police officers out there shooting at us.
These shots, one of them went through the boat, one of them went
right near us in the water. So we headed on back and we got back
there. This fellow's name was Otto Trenchili. Well, we started on,
and here they were, riding their bicycles. They came up and they'd
kick us in the back to make us go faster up University Avenue.
Finally when Trenchili (of course, he was tventy-three years of age,
we were only little kids ) broke and he ran and get on the side of a
car and got away. Well, he was later subdued in Oakland. He shot
and killed an Oakland police officer about two blocks from where I
lived on Alcatraz Avenue. So he was shot and killed, and he killed
a police officer; they both shot and killed each other.
So later in these years when I was in the department, I had gone to
August Vollmer and complained nearly a year later after this occurred,
and complained of the way we had been treated. I've still got a
13
Woods: couple of marks on my body that I got from Waterbury. But I vent
to him about that and he couldn't believe it. I stripped down in
his office and shoved him. I said, "I vill always harbor ill-vill
against that man." I forgot after the years, no, I guess I never
did. Vollraer had he known directly that this was true, but he
didn't search to find out, but I think that if he had he would
have really done something about it. My admiration for the man,
I'm sure that he would have nothing like that to take place.
JRH: Then, he said he hadn't knovn about it, or...
Woods: No. However, nothing was done about it and in later years I dis
cussed it vith him again and I told him vher. he was going to be
elevated as an Inspector (this is Waterbury), I was opposed to that.
I didn't want to see that happen; I didn't think he earned that
recognition. But the other man, isn't that funny I don't remember
the others, but I remember the man who vielded the vhip. That was
the one with the bad feet. Let's see what else you've got in here
that you wanted to know about.
JRH: Just the stories like you've told me; stories about what sort of a
man he was. That was an interesting one.
Woods: Well, he came to Los Angeles and he was down in San Diego. He came
down and I was down to San Diego. I vent down there to make a survey
in their department. He vas down there, I don't know what the
mission was, but then I was invited and I vent to a luncheon and
he was there and I had that , and so he also gave me quite a send-off
(for the survey Job) to the people present at this luncheon.
There were at least 150 or 200 people there. He gave me quite a
send-off and dating on back of course, I'm going like a round-robin
trying to tell you things.
August Vollmer, one day, about 1925 I guess it could have been '26,
1925 or 1926, he brought a man into the Identification Bureau and he
said, "Gene" (and whoever was there in the office with me; whoever
was in charge of the Identification Bureau), he said, "I want you to
meet Edgar Hoover. I want you to take him up to meet vith
Clarence Merrill." Clarence Morrill vas the head of our Identifica
tion Bureau. He vas in the Berkeley Police Department. He vas then
the head of the State Bureau of Identification and Investigation
in Sacramento. "I want you to take him up there, take him to Los
Angeles, take him here and take him there. You will be supplied
vith your expenses." Edgar Hoover, that didn't mean anything to me.
So after Edgar Hoover was appointed in the Bureau, of course. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation vas created then. After he vas
making his rounds to learn something, to have a smattering knowledge
of police work. That vas the thing that August Vollmer propounded
to us in every meeting at our so-called Creb Clubs. Did anyone
mention about Crab Clubs?
JRH: Yes, they mentioned that every Friday...
Woods: Once a month, they couldn't have it every Friday because it would
be too rough on men as they were working. Once a month, with the
exception of maybe once or twice in ten year's time that he'd call
a special session. But, usually he'd call for key people in his
office for that. So that could be, that he was calling every week
by reason of some select group would have soae special Crab Club
business. He'd propound these things to us.
One of them was, to kill the public with kindness. Make yourself
feel that you're scared to death that if you turn around someone
is going to kick you in the pants. That would be the language that
he'd use sometimes. That you're being so kind and nice to the
people. You have to be, you're not a Judge, but you have to be
Judge as to whether you're doing the right thing at that time by
cautioning people, advising them to be more cautious in their
operating a vehicle, if they're crossing in the middle of a block,
or any of the things that they might be doing. Stealing something,
not pickpocket , but stealing some insignificant thing or doing
some little depredation of some kind. That you, by talking to them
in a fatherly manner, you can correct something. Whereas you might
be making an enemy of that person and cause them to dislike us
more. If you can plant a seed of kindness, you're doing something
for the welfare of policemen in general. Tnose are the kinds of
things that he talked to us so much on. Invariably he'd call and
we'd have examinations very frequently to see whether different
ones and a lot of these things were carried out by Jack Greening.
JRH: No one mentioned that. You had regular examinations?
Woods: We had examinations. They would be periodical, at least once every
two months. You would have maybe examinations on the street where
the fire boxes were; where the outlets were; even though you
weren't a fireman you had to work in conjunction with your fire
department, to aid and assist them. To see that cars don't drive
over the hoses or do whatever to get in their way to creat hazards
or traffic Jams, and numerous things of thai: nature. There was so
much that you could be of service to the public.
We would be sent to the schools. Along with others I've been in on
the creation of the School Traffic Squads, whers we had those first
created. There were two others beside myself in on the origin of
this. I can't think of their names now, isn't that funny?
JRH: I have a name, a Mr. Baird, could he be one of them?
Woods: No he was not in it, originally. He was in it late. The first one
in that , gee — I knew him so darn well . When it was originally
created there were only three. We'd given our time to the schools
and we'd go out there and speak to them to create something. We
went to San Francisco, too, to see where we could get somebody to
give us something. We were trying to get a half dozen kids out
fitted with something. We were trying to get some kind of grant
or something.
15
JRH: I forget names in two years, so that's nothing. You were telling
us, a good deal of stories, anyway.
Woods: One more thing I might say is that I've been in conflict with one
of the Wardens (Duffy) over at San Quentin; he was born and raised
over at San Quentin. His father was a guard and then later he
became Warden (Duffy). He lives in Rossmoor now. We had quite a
little conflict and we spoke on the subject Jointly. He was
speaking in behalf of a measure to outlaw the capital punishment
and I spoke in favor of capital punishment. I told him, "I'll
tell you why, you Mr. Warden, you never were a policeman; you
never came in contact with these people on the outside. Only after
you got them incarcerated in prison. It's up to you to try to
instill something in their heads there but, we, as policemen on the
street, we come in contact with these people." In my case, I said,
"I was stabbed by an ex-convict; I was shot down by an ex-convict.
I've come in contact with some of these hop-heads, some of these
people, narcotic addicts, where I was only fortunate in one case —
there were three of them and I was pretty well beaten up by them,
but I managed to keep one and I wouldn't shoot a man down unless I
absolutely had to."
I knew what the taste of lead was and I said, "Now Mr. Warden,
you're opposing this. If your mother, your wife, your daughter
were molested or were raped you'd be the first man to want to gouge
their eyes, to chop their fingers off and a few other things of
that nature. I went into a department store at 2:00 in the morning
where a couple — the man was the organist at a theatre, the other,
the girl was the ticket-taker at this show house on University
Avenue — they came down after they were through they'd go out for
a ride and this fellow lived upstairs over this place. He went
up there to get something and the girl was parked in his car. This
fellow, the burglar, was down in the store and she saw him so they
drove and saw me and I asked them to go directly to the police
department and tell them I need help. I went up there and I put my
shoulder (I was telling this whole story to the Warden) to it and
I went inside and there were little peanut globes. If you know
what a peanut globe is — it emits very little amounts of light
inside but you can see your way around. There I saw a trail of
things spewing out down the stairs.
I went down there and I found in all this rubbish and all this
crockery and everything else, the packing boxes were down there. I
called out, I said, "Okay fellow, throw your gun out and come on out.
The place is surrounded and you can't get away." This guy threw
a .1*5 caliber gun out and it scared the daylights out of me. I
didn't know where it come from. He was an ex-con. Well, I picked
it up and stuck it in my belt. Then I composed myself evidently
because he never knew I was scared!
16
Woods: He came on out there and by this time I've got him with his hands
behind him, handcuffed. He said, "Well, I'll tell you Woods, I
laid there with this gun pointed at your badge; I was planning to
kill you. I wasn't fifteen feet away from yon." He'd gotten the
gun from the Armory which he'd burglarized. But he said, "When
you said this place was surrounded, I thought of the rope." I
said, "Mr. Warden, my life was saved by my speaking of the rope."
That man feared the death penalty.
17
INDEX Gene Woods
Alaraeda, City of, 1
Baird, Mr. William E. , lU
Berkeley, City of, 1
City Council, 7
City Manager, 5
City Marshal, 1
The Pier, 12
Police Department, 1, 2, U-7, 10
Identification Bureau, 3, 13
Record Bureau, 3
South Berkeley, 11
West Berkeley, U, 10, 11
Biscailuz, Gene, 8-9
Blum, Mr., 12
Brereton, George, k
California, State of
Bureau of Identification, U, 5
Highway Patrol, 8
"Crab Clubs", 13-11*
Duffy, Clinton, Warden, 15-16
Edy, John N., 6
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 13
Greening, John A. "Jack", U, 5, lU
Hoi strom, John D. , 1
Hoover, J. Edgar, 13
International Association of Chiefs of Police, 7
Lee, Clarence, 5-6
Lincoln School, 11
Los Angeles, City of, 1, 13
Sheriff's Office, 8
County Grand Jury, 9
Morrill, Clarence, 13
Mull, Grorer, 5
Nanking, 1
18
Oakland, City of, 1, 12
Parkinson's Disease, 11
Pasadena, City of, 9
Police Procedures, 2-3, 10, 13-1 U
Prohibition, U
Richardson, Lester, 12
Hossrooor, 15
Sacramento, City of, 13
San Diego, 13
San Francisco, City, 1, lU
San Quentin Prison, lU
School Traffic Squads, lU
Trenchill, Otto, 12
University of California, 2
Water bury, Frank, 13
Wichita, Kansas, 9
Wilson, Orlando W. , 10
YMCA, 2
University of California Bancroft Library/ Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollner Historical Project
Al Coffey
AUGUST VOLLMER: A MAN OF PRINCIPLE AMD ACTION
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
© 1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
A.L. Coffey was born in 1907 and served as August Vollmer's secre
tary from 1931-3. He remained in the Berkeley Police Department for
several years, and later went on to reach the position of Chief of the
Bureau of Identification and Investigation. Mr. Coffey brings the per
spective of a career police professional to this August Vollmer series.
Interviewer: Jane Howard
Time and Set
ting of
Interview: One interview was conducted, on August 9, 1971, in
Mr. Coffey's ranch-style home in Sacramento. The interview
began at 9:30 a.m. and concluded at 10:30 a.m.
Editing:
Narrative
Account of
Mr. Coffey
and the
Progress of
the Inter
view
The interview was corrected for spelling and punctuation
errors by Jane Howard. In addition, after consultation with
the Bancroft Library Regional Oral History Office regarding
the appropriate procedures, several interesting anecdotes
related by Mr. Coffey off the tape were pharaphrased . Sug
gestions were made on points for inclusion of these anecdotes
points in the written transcript. Mr. Coffey edited the
transcript extensively for style, but did make only minor
deletions of information. He also agreed to the inclusion of
all but one anecdote. These anecdotes are now part of the
written transcript.
Mr. Coffey was born in 1907, in Fresno County, California. He
attended Armstrong Business College in Berkeley, and the
University of California. Coffey worked in the Berkeley
Police Department for thirteen years, in a variety of assign
ments, including patrolman, sergeant, and inspector. During
World War II he served in the Pacific in the Marine Corps.
After the war, A.L. Coffey worked in the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation, serving as supervisor of
the investigation section, and then Chief of the Bureau. He
was a lecturer at the University of California in 1958-59.
Mr. Coffey retired from the Bureau in December 1971.
ii
A.L. Coffey (contd. )
Coffey opens the interview by stating that he served as
August Vollmer's secretary from 1931-33. He found Vollmer
to be a nan who knev what he wanted, a man who followed his
own clearly thought out set of principles, and a man who
paid careful attention to detail. Coffey found that Vollmer
attacked problems very aggressively, and with a sense of
direction. During Vollmer's tenure, Coffey reports, morale
in the department was extremely high; Vollmer related well
to all staff and all members of the department respected
and admired him.
Turning to Vollmer's professional role. v Coffey mentions
Vollmer's work promoting the formation of the Bureau of
Criminal Identification and Investigation, his leadership in
the International Association of Chiefs of Police and his
extensive correspondence with police officers throughout the
country and the world. Coffey discusses Vollmer's efforts to
make policing nonpolitical , and his deep involvement in the
Berkeley community.
Coffey tells two stories: one, on Vollmer's conflict with
the Berkeley city manager, in 1933, over police salaries. He
also remembers meeting Vollmer accidentally in a speakeasy
during prohibition.
The conversation turns to a consideration of the types of
correspondence Vollmer handled. Mr. Coffey recalls that it
covered a wide range from chatty letters to long time friends,
to responses to citizens' requests for information, to technical
advise to fellow police professionals. Ccffey mentions here,
as he does at several other points in the interview, that
although Vollmer sometimes seemed to be austere, his corres
pondence revealed great warmth and gregariousness.
In response to a final question from the interviewer, Coffey
comments that when Vollmer met with opposition to his ideas,
he would listen openly to discussion until he came to a
decision and would then act forcefully to carry out that
decision.
Jane Howard
ALC: Well, let's follow your questionnaire then, as a beginning at
least. How did I get to know Vollmer? 1 was his secretary at
the police department in 1931 continuing for about two years.
JRH: Was he still on the force then?
ALC: He was still Chief of Police but apparently had a part-time
arrangement. I had Just Joined the department and Vollmer was
teaching at the University of California. He would come to
the Police Department in the late afternoon to take care of his
correspondence. He would dictate from U p.m. to 6 p.m. or later
and then leave. I had the balance of the night for transcription
and getting the work out.
JRH: So you would work evenings for him then?
ALC: I was assigned on the U p.m. to midnight watch. Through hand
ling his correspondence I got some insight into the things he
was doing and the manner in which he functioned.
JRH: Was he officially with the Police Department?
ALC: Yes, he was still officially with the Department as Chief even
while he was at the University. Then Captain, who later became
Chief Greening after Vollmer1 s retirement actually was doing a
great deal of the administration of the Department.
Under these circumstances my acquaintance with Vollmer was as an
employee. I did not have a continuing contact with him and never
developed a personal relationship with him as some of the other
members of the Department did.
You also asked what effect he had on my life both personally and
professionally. I think I'd have to answer that I was influenced
by example rather than precept. To a person as young as I was
Vollmer was an impressive figure of a man. Physically, he was
above average height, rather sparely built with an erect almost
military bearing. He was beyond middle age and impressed me as
being a somewhat austere, not particularly warm sort of person
ality.
Again my reaction to him was that he was a very incisive sort of
person who knew pretty well what he wanted. I think his decisions
were made relatively easy for him because of his adherence to
a set of well defined principles. I felt that he lived with a
personal philosophy which enabled decision without too much
emotional involvement.
I've gotten into your second question as to the kind of man he was.
One of the things which impressed me most about him was that within
ALC: my experience he was a perfectionist. At that tine he was
writing for publication a lot; magazine articles, book reviews
and that sort of thing. He would polish, re-polish and re-
polish an article until it net his every requirement.
Another thing which made a lasting impression on me, and maybe
itfs saying the same thing a little differently, was the fact
that he organized himself and his work more precisely than
almost any other person I've ever known. He would prepare for
dictation, have his material laid out on his desk in the order
he wanted to handle it , and knew exactly how he wanted to handle
each item. He would run through a heavy correspondence schedule
and then he would rough out the articles he was writing. The
next evening he would revise the articles. We would do this over
and over and over again until he was satisfied.
JRH: Would he outline his correspondence?
ALC: No, he had the correspondence he wanted to respond to stacked on
his desk and he would run through it piece by piece. I mentioned
earlier that I felt him to be a very incisive rather austere
person and yet this has to be balanced against the fact that from
his correspondence, his letters to friends he had known years
earlier when he was younger, he had been a very warm and gregarious
person. He maintained correspondence with people in all walks
of life and some of his references to occurrences years before
left me with the impression that he had been in his time the
equivalent of what we now might call a "swinger." At the time I
knew him he had suffered a heart attack, possibly this contributed
to a change of pace for him. Also he had stopped smoking at
that time.
JRH: How old was he when you knew him, in his late UO's?
ALC: No, I think he must have been pretty well into his 50' s, because
he was eligible to retire which he did around 1933, so he must
have been approaching his 60's. You,of course, have his early
background — the mail carrier thing and his tenure as Marshal
before the formation of the police department.
JRH: Very few people have known much about him during this early period.
ALC: I don't really have any stories about him except the history. As
I understand it, he had been a mail carrier in Berkeley, had
subsequently been elected City Marshal and when the police de
partment was organized he was appointed Chief of Police.
I can't give you the name of the person but my information was
that Vollmer was greatly influenced in the administration of the
police department and in many of the policies he initiated by an
official of the Oakland Police Department. That man had a
decided influence on him.
ALC: Maybe because the Berkeley Department in those early days was
in its formative stages Vollner vas able to do a lot of inno
vative thinking and initiate some advanced practices and
policies without having to overcome the inertia of long estab
lished procedures as would have been the case in a department
which had been in operation many years.
Another of the things about Vollaer which made a lasting im
pression on me was an apparent tendency to attack a problem.
Physically he appeared to be a quick moving, well coordinated
athletic type person and I felt his mental processes were
consistent with the physical. To my knowledge he never pro
crastinated and I felt that he had a pattern planned for his
life.
JRH: Do you think for example he intended to go on and start a school
in Berkeley? Is that what you mean, in that sense?
ALC: No, I don't think so. I don't mean that he had tunnel vision.
Rather that he had generated a well defined eet of personal
principles, that he knew pretty well what he wanted to accom
plish, knew where he was going and thought in terms of the
future rather than Just living in a day to day situation meeting
things as they developed.
He had a strong impact on the people around him. Everybody in
the department and within my experience, most of the people
around him, accepted him as a leader. I *elt there was less
friction, less internal dissension in the department during his
tenure than at any subsequent time. Many of the people with
whom I worked have said in effect, "I've never gone in to talk
to the Old Man without coming away with some new ideas or some
additional thoughts on a problem."
Because he was such a positive individual I have felt that his
act of suicide when he learned the nature and extent of his
illness was consistent with his aggressive relationship to
life. I'm sure it was not done in panic or from fear but rather
that it was a calculated well considered decision.
JRH: Do you think some people might have been afraid of him by his
austerity at all?
ALC: No I don't think so. As a matter of fact he had a much closer,
less formal relationship with some people on the department than
in my case. I have reason to know that there were times when
he acted very paternalistically toward some members of the group.
There were at that time actually about four generations on the
department. There was the generation of Vollmer himself including
the original personnel; there were the people who had come along
subsequently who were on their way up through the ranks. There
was a generation of patrolmen ahead of my time; and then the
generation which included John Holstrom, myself and others.
ALC: How did he relate to the people he dealt with on a frequent
and close basis; to friends, employees, or professional
colleagues? His relationships I think were almost uniformly
good. Personally, of all the people I have ever worked for I
enjoyed him most. I never before or since worked harder or
more enthusiastically. I think most people were inspired
similarly.
The only additional comment I might make would be that I was
well aware of his professional stature, where he was out
standing. Police officials throughout the world acknowledged
him as a leader in the profession; a man in the forefront of
the developing police science.
JRH: Internationally who were some of the people?
ALC: He carried on a continuous and extensive correspondence with
police officials and government officials throughout the United
States and the world, among whom were administrators from
Scotland Yard in London, the French Surete in Paris and most
all the other world capitals.
He had been as I'm sure you know, one of the early presidents
of the International Association of Chiefe of Police. He also
played a major part in the promotion and lobbying of the legis
lature which preceded the establishment of the California Bureau
of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
The reason and the need for this Bureau of course was that at
that time the police had the problem of adapting to the mobility
of offenders who were transient. During those years for
instance, in booking felony prisoners we took nineteen sets of
fingerprints, one for our own files, the others for exchange
with other departments in the Bay Area and Statewide in an
effort to provide information as to possible offenses or offenders
in other Jurisdictions. For these reasons Vollmer earlier Joined
with other police officials and lobbied for the establishment
by the State of a central records keeping depository. The Bureau
of Criminal Identification and Investigation grew out of those
efforts.
JRH: Do you know who he would talk to to get it established? You say
he lobbied for it; what did he have to do to get it started?
ALC: Because it was intended and designed as a state function it was
necessary to convince the members of the State Legislature that
the proposal was valid, that there was a need, that it was
legitimately a state activity, and that the legislature should
appropriate the necessary monies.
JRH: What I'm thinking is were you ever involved with say writing
some of the letters in the process of getting legislation
passed?
ALC: Mot too much. The State Bureau was in operation before I
Joined the Police Department. Also at that time law enforce
ment even more than now, was regarded as being a local concern.
As a consequence there was not as much legislation in those
days which affected law enforcement. Law enforcement now is
demanding a great deal of attention from everyone and there is
much scrutiny of law enforcement activities these days.
In what ways was he influential in the community in Berkeley and
in Alameda County? I think that Vollmer was most responsible
for the acceptance and support of the department by the community.
He recognized the need for community support and the department
in those early days had almost solid public support.
The Berkeley Department under Vollmer was one of the first police
agencies in the country to recruit employees on the basis of
ability rather than appointing on the basis of political connec
tions or pressure. It was first also to recognize the need for
psychiatric evaluations of applicants and as early as 1930
utilized the services of a psychiatrist for recruiting. Since
those days law enforcement generally has made every effort to
avoid political interference, or political or partisan activity.
Vollmer I'm certain, contributed greatly to this philosophy that
law enforcement should remain non-political. Because of his
stature as an enforcement official and because he made every effort
to maintain good press relations Vollmer spoke with authority in
both the city and county.
JRH: I understand he made a lot of speeches in the community which
kept the community aware of what was going on. Did you help him
with any of these?
ALC: Not so far as his speeches were concerned. He encouraged depart
ment personnel to become involved in civic activities, to Join
local service clubs, and participate generally in community life,
as he encouraged them to continue education activity. I think
another thing which contributed to Vollmer' s stature in the
community and generally was that with his rise to prominence he
was frequently invited to survey major departments throughout the
country and to serve as consultant in the upgrading of other law
enforcement agencies. As I have indicated he also published a
great deal, writing on many phases of law enforcement.
Solar as anecdotes or stories I recall, the outstanding recollection
that I have can only reinforce the comments made earlier.
Vollmer 's retirement actually resulted from a disagreement with
the City Administrator over police salaries. It was, I believe,
in 1933 that the then City Manager, Hollis Thompson, caaae to
ALC: Vollraer's office during the dictation session. Because of the
Depression, Thompson indicated that he felt it advisable to
reduce police salaries. Vollmer's response vas a positive "The
day you cut salaries in the Police Department you can go out
and buy yourself a new Chief of Police." Thompson did cut
salaries and Vollmer took his retirement, I believe for that
reason only.
I also remember going, after a Stanford-University of California
game, with a friend to a speakeasy in the Santa Cruz Mountains
during the Prohibition era. We ran into August Vollmer and the
man vho later became Chief of the Berkeley Police Department ,
Captain J.A. Greening, and his wife. Neither the Vollmer party
nor the Coffey party acknowledged each other and very shortly
Vollmer and Greening got up and left. I vas surprised to see
them there, in a way, although I knew that la his earlier days,
Mr. Vollmer had really been quite a "goer.1" I got the impression
that Vollmer was well-known in the speakeasy from the way he
chatted with the people there. I have the general impression
that Vollmer was very sociable in his youth, and well-known in
the Berkeley area bars and very popular with women as well as men.
JRH: I'd be interested if you can describe some of the kinds of
correspondence he was working with at that time.
ALC: It covered a wide range. Apart from the normal business of the
Police Department most of it dealt with general police problems
and procedures. He discussed problems, and made recommendations
or offered suggestions in responding to correspondence from
administrators in other departments.
JRH: Ones he had »et or hadn't met, I wonder?
ALC: Both. A great many he was acquainted with because of his tenure
as President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The others were Just a wide range of people asking for information
or advice so far as police activities were concerned. Many
inquiries were from university students or professors. Other than
that sort of thing much of his correspondence was exchanges with
acquaintances or friends of many years. Here again despite his
outward austerity and apparent sternness, he had a capacity for
expressing himself very warmly and humanly. For a long time I
kept copies of some of his letters to old friends, letters of
condolence or sympathy because of death or illness.
JRH: Since he did introduce so many innovations, presumably he ran into
a lot of opposition with some of them. How did he handle it?
ALC: I don't really know that he met serious opposition from his own
community. I'm sure he met disagreement and argument from other
departments. In keeping with his general makeup I'm sure that
he would listen to any discussion with an open mind until he
ALC: came to a decision, then override or ignore the opposition. One
area of disagreement of course was Vollmer's recruitment policies.
He recruited at age 21 and in those days most departments would
not appoint under age 25 or in some instances 27 years. Then too,
his emphasis on education and professionalism. Both of these
factors have since become standard practices but in those days
we (Berkeley officers) were widely and deprecatingly known as
the "college cops" or the "whiz kids" and other such terms.
Even then also, and despite Vollmer's unquestioned public support,
money for law enforcement was a problem. This probably generated
some opposition at times when he requested funds for untried
new ideas.
JRH: How did he manage it before 1933? I guess he managed to get
pretty good funding for his police department?
ALC: I believe so, but of course I don't know how long, how many
budget periods it took for him to get these things accomplished.
I suspect even then he had to pioneer, educate, amass supporting
data, and argue, as police administrators do in these days.
8
INDEX A.L. Co f fey
Berkeley Police Department, 1-3, 5-6
recruitment policies, 5-7
California, State of
Bureau of Criminal Identification
and Investigation, U
Legislature, U
Greening, Captain J.A. , 1
Holstrom, John, 3
International Association of Chiefs of Police, U, 6
Oakland Police Department, 2
Scotland Yard, 1»
Stanford - University of California Game, 6
Surete" , k
Thompson, Hollis, 5-6
University of California, 1
University of California Bancroft Library /Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollner Historical Project
George Brereton
LOOKING BACK: EX-DIRECTOR OF THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT
OF JUSTICE REMEMBERS HIS YEARS AS A PATROLMAN UNDER AUGUST VOLLMER
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
© 1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
George Brereton, born 1901, was interviewed by Jane Howard as part
of the series on August Vollmer. Mr. Brereton brings the perspective of
a leader in California law enforcement who worked with Mr. Vollaer during
Vollmer 's tenure as Chief of the Berkeley Police Department.
Interviewer: Jane Howard
Time and Setting
of the Interview: One interview was conducted on July 9, 1971, with
Mr. Brereton in his antique furnished home in
Sacramento, California. The interview began around
11:30 a.m. and concluded at approximately 1:00 p.m.
Editing: Editing of the transcripts was done by Jane Howard.
Paragraphing, correction of some misspelled names
and punctuation was done. A section unclear from
the tape to the typists was filled in. The changes
were minor. Mr. Brereton edited extensively. He
made many changes to eliminate informal English in
the interview. He also expanded on some of the ideas
and concepts discussed.
Narrative Account
of George Brereton
and the Progress George Brereton, born in 1901 in Mendicino, California,
of the Interview: received an M.A. degree in history from the University
of California at Berkeley in 1926. He continued
graduate studies toward a Ph.D. through 1929.
Mr. Brereton' s professional career began in 1922, when
he took a Job as a Berkeley policeman while still an
undergraduate. He continued to work for the Department
through 1929. In 1930 he became director of the first
police training school in the United States, at San
Jose State College.
Subsequent professional experience includes six years
with the San Diego Sheriff's Department and service in
the U.S. Havy during World War II. Brereton became
Chief of the California Bureau of Criminal Identification
and Investigation in 19^5 and rose to Deputy Director of
the State Department of Justice by I960. He retired in
1961*.
ii
George Brereton (contd. )
Mr. Brereton is the author of many articles on police
training, police professionalism, and on California
lav enforcement agencies.
The interview follows the question outline Quite
closely. Mr. Brereton explains that he cane into
policing because he needed a Job, but decided to remain
in the field because of the impression August Vollmer
made on him. Mr. Vollmer was always fair and supported
and encouraged his men, he says.
Mr. Brereton talks of Vollmer 's stress on courtesy
toward the public, and of his national and international
influence and of his drive and energy.
In response to the question on Vollmer 's state influence,
Brereton discusses Vollmer 's role in establishing the
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and
his work with Earl Warren on enforcing prohibition. He
also mentions his own assignment as an undercover agent
to get evidence on Contra Costa gambling and bootlegging.
In relation to Berkeley, Mr. Brereton recalls the
cooperative relation between Berkeley fraternities and
the Berkeley Police Department, and Vollmer1 s acquain
tance with University of California, Berkeley presidents.
Mr. Brereton touches on Vollmer 's principles, and his
kindness to staff, in response to questionnaire items.
The tape concludes with a discussion of other men who
might be good interview subjects.
Jane Howard
BRERETON: ty father was the first Chief of Law Enforcement for the United
States Forest Service in the California Natural Forest and his
office was in San Francisco. In his work he became a good friend
of August Vollmer. Also in those days my mother was a teacher
and my father had been a teacher some years before. But they
didn't have very much money, so going to college was a matter of
trying to work my way through and the first two years I went to
college, I "waited on table" at my fraternity house and I did
different Jobs.
One day my father said, "Why don't you take the examination for
the Berkeley Police Department?" and, if you will pardon the ex
pression, I said, "What the hell do I want to be a policeman for?"
He said, "Well, one reason is that they pay $175 a month." And
I said, "$175 a month?" He said, "Yes, and there are several
college fellows in the Berkeley Police Department" and he said
"Chief Vollmer and I have been talking and he asked me why don't
your son take the examination."
Since times were bad, (just like they are today for young people
trying to get Jobs in anything — my grandchildren for example
and my son, who after 15 1/2 years as a Senior Mechanical Engi
neer lost his Job at Project Sacramento. ) I took the examination
and 8 or 9 months later was notified to report for work on the
midnight shift. In those days they gave various tests, and psy
chological examinations. Dr. John Ball was one of the consultants
that Chief Vollmer had and a Dr. Rowell was also one of the
interviewers. He has since passed away. He was not related to
the Rowell 's of Fresno or the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle;
in fact, those Rovells were related to my first wife who is
deceased.
Anyway, I took the exam and went to work and at that time was
taking 18 units in mining engineering. Actually I think I ended
up with an incomplete in my civil engineering course because I
didn't have time to finish my surveying — which we did on the
hillside back of the Greek Theater. That was one reason which
caused me to change my course from Mining Engineering because I
would have to have given up my police Job and gone out into a
mine during the Summer starting my Junior year for three months ;
secondly, I wasn't doing too well in chemistry, although I did
receive good grades in high school. I didn't care for the particular
section leader in Chem 1A so, to make a long story short, I
BP.ERETON: changed my couse and majored in history and ninored in political
science and economics.
In the early days, (at that time I think I vas the 35th policeman
who came on the Police Department) they gave you the number of
the last man to leave the department; in fr.ct, I think I still
have the old badge around some place. What I should do is find
that and give it to you; Badge No. 1 — that vat my number.
Somebody had either died or retired and so I had No. 1 although
I vas not number one in the police department. We vould all vork
six days a veek and the newest patrolman vould get the last
choice of shifts, so that is vhy I vent on the "graveyard" (12
midnight to 8 a.m.). I also got the last choice of vacations,
after everybody else had made their selection, and college could
not interfere vith your police vork. Lots of times ve'd have
to have longer hours and so we'd have to cut class and that sort
of thing.
But, Vollmer was a very wonderful person. I had a very high regard
for him, as did the others. He, of course, had had no great amount
of formal education. I'm not quite sure, but I don't believe he
even went to high school. I think he Just finished grammar school.
As I remember hearing him tell about it, he was in the Spanish-
American War and came back to Berkeley and became a postman and he
made a lot of friends so that when a constable was needed he was
elected City Constable of Berkeley. Then, as time went on, he self-
educated himself and became a very, very highly educated man. He
had that ability. He was a terrific reader and had developed a fine
library by the time I came in the department, April the 7th, 1922.
He had become well knovn, internationally known, and he was great for
training and for newer theories. That's the reason why he encouraged
university students to come into the police department. It was
his belief that eventually all policemen would be required to have
a college education and, of course, you see how that belief has
progressed. Even though he had little formal education himself he
was certainly far better educated than many college graduates be
cause he was a terrific reader. As time went on he became an out
standing important police expert and made a great many surveys
(I've forgotten how many he made) and traveled around the United
States and the world. But personally, I never had any relationship
with him. I was a patrolman there only.
Of course, he did have a important and lasting impact on my life and
I had the highest regard for him because of his intelligence and his
self-education. He knew far more than a great many professors on
problems of policing and lav enforcement, psychology of people, etc.
Although I had changed my course and planned to become a college
professor and teach history (and did in fact teach history), actually
the impact he made on me caused me to remain in lav enforcement and,
as time vent on, more and more I was affected by his influence.
BRERETON: In the first place, I was recommended by Chief Vollner when I
started the police training school in September 1930 at San Jose
State College. Vollmer recommended me and 1 went down and started
the first two-year college full-time police training school in the
United States at San Jose. You will find a reference to that in the
Wickersham Report. They had short police schools at other places
and Vollmer had taught several courses in the Summer Session at the
University of California at Berkeley and I had taken some of those
courses. Dr. John Don Ball had given courses in psychiatry and we'd
take trips to the prisons and the mental hospitals. About every
Friday Chief Vollmer would also conduct a little school for all the
policemen and of course there were only 35 or Uo, so you had to get
out of bed if you were on the 12 to 8 shift to attend school that
day. Everybody was there. At that time Walter Gordon — have you
talked with him? — was on the department and he was one of the
first patrolmen to teach me the rudiments of patroling "a beat."
JRH: Bancroft is doing an Earl Warren history and they are interviewing
him in relation to that, so I'm not going to do one.
BRERETON: Walter Gordon was at that time a policeman in the Berkeley Police
Department as well as attending law school at Cal and he was the
one that I trained with. The way they started training in the
Berkeley police when I started they'd send you out on the street
in an automobile and with an older experienced policeman. You'd
go around with him for several nights and then with somebody else
and Gordon was one of the patrolmen that I was assigned to. He
taught me how to be careful in going down dark alleys, turning
door knobs, etc. We had to patrol "a beat." For example, my
first "beat" was from the Albany boundary to the northern boundary
of Oakland and from Sacramento Street to a certain area called
the west waterfront. And on some nights on the 12 to 8 shift we
had only two or maybe three policemen to patrol the entire city
of Berkeley.
JRH: That's a big territory.
BRERETON: Well, we didn't have some of the problems that you have in Berkeley
(1965-71) nowadays. In fact, a later beat of mine was from Shattuck
Avenue to the Hills (last street) and from Bancroft Way to Derby
Street. So I had the University "beat" in the days when I could as
a lone patrolman at Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue handle the
problems. We'd have the Rally Committee and the Senior Peace Com
mittee help if the kids came down and started trouble. I would
have no difficulty and we never had to call any extra police
because members of the Big C Society, the Peace Committee and the
Rally Committee and other students helped. They would say, "George,
do you need some help to stop those kids from cutting the fire hose
lines or overturning a car," and if I said yes they took care of the
BREFETON: problem. Incidentally, part of our Jobs in those days (1922-29)
vas to make a tour of the fraternity houses looking for "souve
nirs." We knew most of the fellows and we would collect all the
mementos they had been "stealing" (i.e., red lanterns, street
ropes , etc . ) the past year and get them back without any problems .
Volimer was a very striking man, tall and slender. As I remember
his hair was slightly gray. He was a great backer of his men. If
you were in the right no ore could get your Job or get you in trou
ble. If you arrested a State Senator speeding down Telegraph Avenue
and you were in the right, he would support you. On many different
occasions, he supported our actions. If you were wrong, which I was
on one occasion, he had a great deal of understanding and sympathy
and forgave my indiscretion. He was Just a very, very wonderful
person. He had a lot of magnetism which would draw you to him.
One of his great expressions when he would speak to us in those
Friday afternoon hour and one half sessions, (of course, it was
a very small school compared to what we have today and what has
been done) was, in speaking to the public, "kill them with kind
ness." And he used to say, "When you're talking with a person
on the phone always be courteous." Anyway, he would say, "In
dealing with the public, this may be the first and last time that
that person ever has contact with the police; either with the
Berkeley Police Department or with a policeman, and it may be a
minor or a major thing; it may be a complaint about a crowing
rooster, which they had in Berkeley until recently, it may be a
barking dog, or it may be children throwing rocks against an
elderly woman's door. Whatever it is, it's veryimportant to
that particular complainant to take that report and answer them
personally and give them the courtesy, understanding, respect and
service they are entitled to. If you do that the complaining
person will support the police department, not only the Berkeley
Police Department, but have a good opinion of police in general
because that may be the only time the complainant ever comes in
contact with the police."
Well, I think as far as impressing others, he impressed people
all over the world. He did have some of the "old-time" policemen
who opposed his progressive ideas and who did not believe that a
policeman could learn anything out of a book, but the amusing
thing is that some of the ones who originally said the only way
you could learn policing was "to put them out on a beat'' later
supported the training school. Of course, we in Berkeley were
put on the beat and that's the way we were learning in 1922.
But Volimer was developing this ideas that he wanted to put
training schools in police departments and put courses in the
universities and establish police training schools throughout
the country. And, as time went on, of course, that requirement
BRERETON: is now being initiated for some lav enforcement agencies. Some of
the people that were attacking Vollmer followed hi* methods in
later days. For example, in the city of San Francisco some of the
early chiefs of police or chiefs of detectives there "looked dovn
their noses" at him. But that didn't bother him. He rose above
their ridicule. There vere many old-time policemen who had come
up the hard way and did not agree with his ideas. He had come up
the hard way too, but he was thinking far in advance of his time.
They were ridiculing him, but he overcame that and was called into
their cities (Kansas City and many others around the country) to
reorganize their departments. In 1923-2U he went down to Los
Angeles and reorganized that police department and, later, many
others around the world.
He had a tremendous drive. Incidentally, whatever shift you were
on, you had about twenty minutes for a meal on the eight hour shift
and you had no radios. We had what they called the Gamewell signal
system, a red light system with red lights hanging at the inter
section of major streets throughout the city. You had your own
number of flashes, you would watch for that number and then telephone
the police station from a police "call box" (telephone). You would
patrol your beat and in all the areas where they had stores you got
out of your car and you tried the front door and then went around
to the back door to ascertain if they were locked. You did that
at least two times a night. If a store was broken into the next
day your superior wanted to know if you tried that door or had seen
a window broken. So the 1* to 12 and 12 to 8 shifts checked against
one another and the day shift (8 to U) checked on Sundays and holidays,
Vollmer had a lot of influence on the men. Everybody in the depart
ment, in those years I was there, loved him. He worked more than
his share. As I said, I didn't mingle with him socially. I don't
remember meeting his first wife and I didn't meet his second wife
until after he retired from Berkeley and had gone to Chicago
University and came back and was teaching in Berkeley.
In what way was Vollmer influential in the community of Berkeley?
I think Vollmer was Berkeley. He could do no wrong. Nobody would
have dared to cross him and as far as Alameda County is concerned
he was well-liked and he was disliked only by jealous people. But
he was respected throughout the world; in Japan, in England, in
Germany, etc. As time went on police officials and others would
meet him and would listen to his theories , lectures , or read his
writings. He became internationally famous. You can understand
that when both the University of California and the University of
Chicago would take a man who had no degree at all and give him a
full professorship without any problem at all. That doesn't happen
to but a few people. Although when I returned from U 1/2 years of
naval service in 19*»5, I was offered a full professorship at the
BRERETON: University of Southern California. I turned it down because I vas
Chief of Identification and Investigation at that time and vas better
paid than I would have been in Los Angeles. I had a Master of Arts
degree from the University of California, but Vollaer without any
degrees could step into any university and hold up his own — con
versing with anyone about many subjects and preparing scholarly
papers. His language was good, his knowledge was tremendous. Of
course, his main interest was in doing a good police job and in
training good policemen. Training young men to be good policemen
and organizing police departments so that they were fine, honest,
efficient, modern police departments was his lifelong work.
Long before I was chief of the State Division of Criminal Identifi
cation and Investigation, he had a great deal to do with its reor
ganization and modernization in 1917. Incidentally, it was probably
the first in the country being first established at San Quentin in
1909. It was first set up about 1900 at San Quentin prison and
then it was allowed to lapse for a year or two and then, in 1917,
it was reorganized under the influence of August Vollmer, who was
one of the three board members and one of the leaders to have this
state bureau established by the State Legislature. The FBI wasn't
organized until about 192U or 1925. Vollmer had the state bureau
going and the California state bureau handled for the eleven western
states many identification problems and received fingerprints, photos
and records from Kansas City, Seattle and many other cities and all
of the western penitentiaries.
He also had a lot to do with the development and organization of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police and, of course, when
he was at the University of Chicago he gave more impetus to training
as he did at the University of California when he was there. He was
followed to UC by O.W. Wilson who was on the Berkeley police depart
ment a year or two before me and he was one of the so called "college
cops . "
I've told you some of the things he was Involved in with the state,
such as the State Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investiga
tion. You might as well call it "his baby." He reorganized it
and pushed it.
JRH: Did he become the chairman of a board?
BRERETON: Yes, there was a Board of Managers. The Bureau of Criminal Identifi
cation and Investigation was originally governed by a Chief of Police,
a Sheriff, and a District Attorney, appointed by the Governor. And
he was the chief of police. I've forgotten who the DA and the sheriff
were. Later Earl Warren was District Attorney — and was on the Board
of Managers. I've forgotten who else, maybe the Chief of Police of
BRERETON: San Francisco and the Sheriff of Los Angeles were the other board
members, (but at one time Warren, Sheriff Biscailuz of Los Angeles
and Chief Bill Quinn of San Francisco were members ) . When Warren
became Attorney General he wanted to remain on the board, and he
had the law changed so that he became an ex-official member of the
Board of Managers. They had no Department of Justice at that time.
It wasn't until Warren became Governor and Bob Kinney was the Attor
ney General, that they got together and established the Department
of Justice by combining the Attorney General's office and the State
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. And, if I
remember correctly, he brought in the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement
at about the same time and the Bureau of Criminal Statistics. Later
in fact, I had those three Bureaus under my direction when I was
Deputy Director of the Department of Justice.
JRH: Do you know if Vollmer worked with Earl Warren on any other things?
In the county or in the State?
BRERETON: I knew Earl Warren only as District Attorney of Alameda County. In
fact, the first time I met him was when he must have believed that
the Berkeley Police had more integrity than some of the others be
cause he arranged, through Vollmer, to have us, in teams, raid
Emeryville which was running wide open, and had been for many years.
It was "wide open." It was full of prostitutes' houses of prostitu
tion, liquor joints and Chinese gambling. We went down one night
and I was on a team that crashed into one place with a sledge hammer.
This was at Uoth and San Pablo at a place called the Key Route Inn.
Right in back of the Key Route Inn there was a Chinese illegal
gambling "Joint." We "hit" six or seven other gambling "joints'" at
the same time. Oscar Jansen, who was Warren's boy Friday, had been
a former federal investigator led the raids and later worked with
us in Berkeley for a time. He and his wife were both undercover
agents and for awhile and later Oscar worked as Warren's Chief
Special Agent, and still later, when Warren vas Governor Oscar was
appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the California National Guard and
retired as a Brigadier General.
JRH: I also heard that during Vollmer 's time, it should have been when
you were on the force, that there was some effort made against, or
there was still some Klu Klux Klan in there and Vollmer made some
effort against them. Do you remember this at all?
BRERETON: Well, I would say this, Vollmer would have had nothing to do with
supporting the Klu Klux Klan. Do you mean Klu Klux Klan in the
Berkeley Police Department?
JRH: Not in the department, in Alameda county. I meant, had he been
active in trying to control their activities in the county?
8
BRERETON: In the first place, I should have known because I'm a Catholic.
In fact, there were only two Catholics in the Department. I
was the second Catholic to be brought in, while Officer Patrick
O'Keefe was the first. But that had nothing to do with Vollmer.
It didn't make any difference to Vollmer whether you were a
Catholic, Protestant, Jew, black man or a white man. What he
wanted was men who were honest , sincere and who had integrity and
a good mental capacity. As I said, they gave Binet, Army Alpha
and other tests and wanted to get some men of above average intel
ligence. Returning to the KKK, I had heard some rumors there was
some minor activities, but if there was anyone working on it it
might have been some of the detectives, i.e., Inspectors Waterbury,
Wilson and Jack Greening, (who later became Chief of Police there)
and another detective whose name I've forgotten. And he might
have been working with Warren on that.
One of my first duties in the Berkeley Police Department which I
objected to strenuously was an "undercover assignment." Clarence
Taylor , a graduate in engineering and I were called into Vollmer ' •
office one day and he said, "You're going to be temporarily as
signed to the DA's office of Contra Costa County to get the evi
dence on all the gambling Joints, liquor Joints, and houses of
prostitution in Contra Costa County." Well, neither of us liked
that at all. I had a personal resentment and antipathy towards
that type of operation and, secondly, I didn't believe in the
Volstead Act or the Wright Act. I had come from a family that
had grown up with liquor in the house. I had had beer and wine
and when I was a little boy, when we would come in after a long
horse back trip (I was from Mendocino County, I was born and
raised there) wet and cold we would make a tiny hot toddy or some
thing. So I didn't like the idea of going in under false colors.
But he said, "Do you like your police Job?" I said, "Yes, I do."
He said, "Either you take this assignment or you won't be working
with us."
On another occasion, he called me and, I had a very poor handwriting.
I had fairly good handwriting once but I ruined it going to college
because I would try to get everything down on paper which was said
in a lecture. So I would write my police report. When you got
through your police "shift" you always had to write your reports,
if you had a burglary or whatever you had, when you came in off
your beat. Relative to my reports Vollmer said, "One thing you are
going to have to do, either you're going to have to learn to use a
typewriter or you're going to learn to write clearly so we can
read your report or you're not going to be here very long." I said,
"Yes, sir" and I learned to use about four t'jngers typing.
JRH: We heard that Vollmer wasn't a terribly strong believer in Prohibi
tion himself.
BRERETOH: Well, I'm sure that he wasn't.
JRH: But he did enforce the lav?
story you vere telling?
You did follow it in relation to the
BRERETON: I would say probably he had the sane kind of feeling that I had to
ward it. I know nothing about his private life, whether he took a
drink during Prohibition or not. I would certainly have no reason
to say that. But we enforced the laws there and actually I nearly
lost ray Job at one time because of being on a liquor raid and three
of us each took a pint bottle of wine. The stuff wasn't any good
anyhow. I went hone and took a sip out of it, but it wasn't good.
Vollmer wasn't Chief at the time. He was on leave down in Los
Angeles (another officer was Acting Chief), but I think that probably
it was due to Vollmer 's great understanding of human weaknesses and
the stupidity of young kids that caused him to keep us from being
discharged. But anyway, he had a deep understanding and sympathy
for people. He understood the psychology of people and he had great
sympathy for any problems of the men or their families.
JRH: One thing else about the community you mentioned earlier. You
mentioned that when you were on the campus beat generally the
men would know most of the people in the fraternities.
BRERETON: I belonged to a fraternity (where I lived) and I had friends in all
of the houses. I could walk into any fraternity on the campus and
there would always be somebody there who would say, "Hello George,
how are you?" Or if something would disappear, they would help find
it. For example, on one occasion, a bunch of kids from one of the
fraternities that's still there (the freshmen) went over to North
Beach and, of all things, stole four or five musical instruments
from the band who, I suppose, were out having a drink or a rest.
And they stole a big bass horn. I don't know how they got it home.
There were headlines in the San Francisco paper and police were
wild and so somebody called me and asked me if we had a report of
any musical instruments stolen and what would happen to those that
took them. I told them it was grand theft. They said that the
kids had had too much to drink and then asked if they could get the
instruments back to the musicians, could they drop the charges. I
think I checked with Vollmer or the captain or sargeant and said
yes. Some superior knew it was a prank and he said, "Bring them
down and we will straighten it out," which we did and there was
nothing further done about it. Kids would steal souvenirs which I
suppose they still do today; sometimes street signs and stop signs,
plants and red lanterns. Once or twice a year a few of us would go
through the fraternity houses on our beats. Probably there would
Just be two because there would be some fraternities north of campus
and some south. We would load our cars and bring the articles to
the police station and the boys would moan and groan but they, of
course, could do nothing to prevent our actions.
10
JRH: Somebody said that Vollner used to know the people in the frater
nities himself.
BRERETON: Yes, he knew many of them. Of course he knew some of the older
men or some of those who would get in trouble. He knew the
Presidents of the University, i.e. Benjamin I. Wheeler, David
Prescott Barrows, Dr. Campbell and Bob Sproul, the Comptroller
who became President — he knew all of them. Vollmer at that
time lived on Grove Street in a flat or an apartment on North
Grove .
I've talked about principles and major ideas. Training and educa
tion were his great major interests and integrity of his men and
sympathy for them. He would attempt to prevent crime. He would
have the men on the beat to encourage the shopkeepers or the
storekeepers to place their safes out in front of the windows of
their stores and not keep them hidden, also to put electric
lights in the alleys and not leave them dark for the burglars to
work in more safety. He would ask the store owners to cover the
doors and the windows with metal bars. He was thinking all the
time of ways for his men to pass out this information to prevent
crime. We had to be trained in various subjects and take firearm
instruction. We had to study the Penal Code and take examinations
on it and on city ordinances and on a number of other books. We
were always encouraged to get books from the University, and also
to get books from his library. And he had some of the best books
of the early criminologists . Hans Gross's Criminal Investigation,
etc.
How did he relate? He related very well, very courteously, with
empathy and sympathy among all people. On the other hand, he
would support anyone for his principles if he believed them to
be correct. He had kindness and a great amount of mental courage.
One thing he had, you know, over the years was a bad heart. He
used to carry a little pillbox and he used to take nitroglycerine
pills. But that never kept him from doing anything. He never
talked to me about his personal life or anything of that nature.
I don't think he considered that my business, which it wasn't.
We were good friends and he was constantly trying to keep track
of his boys, and tried to help everyone of them.
JRH: I also interviewed Gene Woods. He told me tht he showed Hoover
around the State and Hoover learned some of Vollmer's ideas at
that time.
BRERETOH: I don't remember that. Gene Woods?
JRH: Yes.
11
BRERETON: Gene Wood's father, Al Woods, was one of the detectives who
was there when I came on the police department. Gene came,
I'm sure, after I did. And he was shot at Durant and Shattuck
one morning about six o'clock. But I don't remember Gene's
trip with J. Edgar Hoover, but there were a lot of things that
I wouldn't remember or that I might not even know about, as
far as that goes.
When I first met J. Edgar Hoover while I was Undersheriff in
San Diego in 1935 or 1936, I was teaching at San Jose State
College, where I started the police school in 1930 — I started
there in September 1930, that was on Vollmer 's recommendation.
I was also employed in Santa Cruz as Chief Criminal Deputy
Sheriff from 1932-1931*. When Sheriff Dresser of Santa Cruz
County was defeated, the new Sheriff in San Diego, Ernest Dort,
came north to see Vollmer to get his advice because he didn't
know a thing about policing. In fact, he ran on the basis that
he was honest and that he'd have a new regime. The Sheriff
Ed Cooper, who had been in office twenty years had had some
tough luck — a lot of bad murders. So Dort who had been Post
master in San Diego for some twelve years said, he was going to
get someone who knew policing to come in and reorganize the San
Diego Sheriff's Department. So he came up to see Vollmer and I
was lucky enough to be recommended by Chief Vollmer to become
Undersheriff of San Diego County (January 1935 - December 1938,
when I resigned to accept the position of State Supervisor of
Peace Officer's Training with the State Department of Education
at Sacramento).
JRH: You mentioned Mr. Mull as somebody else who worked with him. He
sounds familiar. We have Mull, but we don't have his address.
BRERETON: Oh, Grover Mull was in the police department there. He's 79 now
but very bright, he now lives at Diamond Springs, California,
P.O. Box 6l6, 95619.
JRH: Is there anyone else that you would think would know about him?
John Holstrom has given us the names of a lot of people.
BRERETON: Yes. Of course, John Holstrom worked for me at the University
of California stadium and then I got him interested in police
work and I encouraged him to take the examination for the
department. Mull told me that Bob Robinson was living over in
Mill Valley and I think he knows where Ralph Proctor is. Bob
Robinson has an unusually long name: Shayer O.L. "Bob Robinson."
I think that when you talk with Mull, if you get a chance, he
will tell you where Robinson lives and also Ralph Proctor. I
think he was in the military service too, but I don't know what
he did.
JRH: We have Maeshner's name.
12
BRERETON: Eddie Maeshner — isn't he dead?
JRH: I don't know.
BRERETON: Hare you got Bill Peck's name?
JRH: He (Holstrom) went through the files, but he listed them by members
and ex-members. So the people that quit we may not have. He listed
them by retirees (people who stayed through and then retired) and
then a separate section on the people who left before retiring.
BRERETON: These fellows all left.
JRH: Holstrom has Proctor's address. He thinks it's 1800 North Street
in Berkeley.
BRERFTON: Proctor. Well, may be. Bill Peck, is he there?
JRH: He has nothing about Bill Peck.
BRERETON: Well, he may be dead. Mull will know more about thi« than anyone
because he was there and he stayed after I left.
JRH: He came in 1923, Holstrom says.
BRERETON: Well, then he came after I did. I came in 1922.
JRH: But he was considerably older.
BRERETON: Yes. He was from World War I. But he is 79 and I am 70 — last
May 23rd.
JRH: Holstrom has quite a list, but I don't know if he has everybody.
BRERETON: (Looking through Holstrom 's book) Owens. V.A. Leonard. He's
still alive and writing books by the carload. He was an inside
clerk when I knew him.
JRH: Only trouble with him is he's so far away.
BRERETON: Kenney, Heinrick, — tape ended, reviewing names off tape.
13
INDEX ~ George Brereton
Alameda County, 5
Ball, John, 1, 3
Barrows, David Prescott, 10
Berkeley, City of, 5
City Constable, 2
Police Department, passim
Biscailuz, Sheriff Gene, 7
California, State of
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, 6-7
Bureau of Criminal Statistics, 7
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, 7
Department of Education, 11
Department of Justice, 7
Campbell, Dr. William W. , 11
Contra Costa County
District Attorney's Office, 8
Emeryville cases, 7
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 6
Gamevell signal system, 5
Gordon, Walter, 3
Guinn, William "Bill", 7
Greening, Jack, 8
Hoover, J. Edgar, 10, 11
Hoi strom, John, 11
Heinrick, E.O., 12
International Association of Chiefs of Police, 6
Jansen, Oscar, 7
Kansas City, Kansas, 5
Key Route Inn, 7
Kinney, "Bob", 7
Ku KLux KLan, 7-8
Los Angeles, 5
Leonard, V.A., 12
Mendocino County, 8
Mull, Grover, 11
Maeshner, Eddie, 12
newspapers
San Francisco Chronicle. 1
O'Keefe, Patrick, 8
Ovens, 12
Peck, Bill, 12
police procedure, 1, 2, 3, U, 5, 8, 10
police training schools
at Berkeley, 3, !»
at San Jose, 3, 11
Proctor, Ralph, 11
Prohibition (Volstead Act), 8-9
Robinson, Shayer 0. "Bob", 11
Rowell, Dr. Hubert N. , 1
San Francisco, 5
San Diego, 11
San Quentin, 6
Santa Cruz , 11
Sproul, Robert G. , 10
Taylor, Clarence, 8
United States Forest Service, 1
University of California at Berkeley, 1-2, 3, 5, 6
fraternities, 9
Rally Committee, 3
Senior Peace Committee, 3
University of Chicago, 5, 6
University of Southern California, 6
Vollmer , August , passim
description of, U
education, 2
health, U
Spanish-American War, 2
Warren, Earl, 6, 7
Waterbury, Inspector Prank, 8
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 10
Wicker sham Report , 3
Wilson, Orlando W. , 6, 8
Wright Act, 8
Woods, Al, 11
Woods, Gene, 10
Thomas Hunter
Willard Schmidt
Alfred E. Parker
Jane Howard Robinson and Gene Carte. September 1972,
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Thomas Hunter was interviewed as part of a series on August Vollraer,
the professional and the man. Mr. Hunter talks from the perspective of a
law enforcement professional who rose from the Berkeley Police Department to
become Supervisor, Special Services Division, in the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation.
Interviewer:
Time and Setting
of Interview:
Editing:
Narrative
Account of
Mr. Hunter and
the Progress of
the Interview:
Jane Howard
One interview was conducted on August 9, 1971, in
Mr. Hunter's office at the Bureau of Criminal Identifi
cation and Investigation. The interview began at about
2 p.m. and concluded at 3 p.m.
The interview was edited by Jane Howard for typing and
spelling errors. She also replayed the tape, filling in
the blanks in the interview left by the typist where the
tape was unclear. Mr. Hunter edited the manuscript,
making a few minor corrections on names and dates.
Thomas Hunter began his career in law enforcement in
1935, upon graduation from the University of California
with a group major in police administration. After brief
employment at the Berkeley Police Department, Mr. Hunter
received an appointment in 1936 as special agent for the
State Board of Examiners. He remained in that position
until 19^2, when he went to work for the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation. Mr. Hunter retired in
1971 from his position as Supervisor of the Special Services
Division of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation.
The interview begins with a discussion of Mr. Hunter's
enrollment at the University of California in Vollmer's
group major in police administration. Mr. Hunter recalls
becoming part of August Vollmer's informal "gang" at
South Hall, becoming interested in Vollmer's secretary,
and being married in 1931* to this secretary, Muriel Bigelow,
in Vollmer's home. Upon graduation from the University
of California in 1935, Mr. Hunter took a Job with the
Berkeley Police Department until his appointment as a
special agent for the State Board of Examiners" in 1936.
ii
Thomas Hunter (cont. )
lie remembers useful advise and encouragement received
over the years as a friend and neighbor of Vollmer's.
The interview turns to a discussion of Vollmer's exten
sive knowledge on a vide range of topics. Hunter also
talks about Vollner's informal group of "V" men, and
tells about the "V" men's group tripe to Yolo County,
California where Hunter's wife's family had a farm.
Hunter feels, as did many other interview subjects, that
Vollmer's most outstanding trait was his innovativeness.
He cites Vollmer's adoption of modus operand!, his lobby
ing for the establishment of the Bureau of Criminal Iden
tification and Investigation and his work on the establish
ment of the East Bay Regional Parks.
Hunter's thoughts turn to an anecdote about an accident
involving the Berkeley city manager and Vollmer on the
first day of Safety Week. Hunter mentions that Vollmer
was an unpretentious man, easy to work for, and that
Vollmer was very fond of children.
Hunter closes by saying he feels people are finally be
ginning to see Vollmer's influence on current police
practices, particularly in the area of administration.
Jane Howard
JRH: How did you get to know Vollmer?
HUNTER: I became interested in doing work in police administration so
I wrote to the places where they were giving courses. I wrote
to August Vollmer to ask what were the potentials in going to
Cal and to George Brereton, who at the time was Director of
the new Police Science course in the first experiment outside
of the University at San Jose State College. I thought Vollmer 's
looked better.
JRH: What were you doing at the time?
HUNTER: I was living in Southern California at the time and starving
through the depression of 1929-31 or '32 and some of my class
mates who had gone on to Cal came home in the summertime and
encouraged me to go to Berkeley. I was working on a newspaper
which was paying very low wages and I figured that I could
starve in Berkeley as well as I could in Pullerton, so I came
north. I was enrolled in August of 1933 and finally graduated
on what I think was the first, at that particular time, group
major in Police Administration. In 193** the University had
adopted a provision making it possible to major across colleges
and, of course, this was long before the School of Criminology
existed and so I had a number of courses in addition to Pro
fessor Vollmer's class, which I took in my Junior year. There
were a cross section of economics and history and other matters
which was considered relevant to being a policeman and I was
graduated in May of 1935-
Shortly after I arrived in Berkeley, I became a member of an
informal gang that hung around Room 11, South Hall, which was
the Chief's office. It had a big advantage that the window
was level with the ground outside and you could sit down and
talk with people inside the room without having to go in the
building. As part of this relationship with the gang I was
rather attracted to this secretary, Muriel Bigelov. However,
I was economically unable to afford a girl friend, so nothing
much happened on that score until the Fall of 1931* when we
were married. The Chief enthusiastically encouraged this
transaction and even loaned his home for the ceremony, the
event taking place in his living room while we were able to
look out over the bay in very pleasant circumstances.
HUNTER: After our marriage I stayed in school until graduation and worked
for the Berkeley Police Department from January 1, 1935, until
I was appointed to be the special agent for the State Board of
Medical Examiners in San Francisco in September of 1936. This
necessitated a move to San Francisco at a time when Muriel was
more than eight months pregnant and caused a lot of difficulties.
However, the commuting situation in those days was such that I
had no great choice but to reside in San Francisco. Subsequently,
we did return to Berkeley and lived on Miller Way Just one block
uphill from his home on Euclid and accordingly both we and the
children frequently had opportunities to pass the time of day with
"Uncle Gus" and I, of course, received much helpful advice from
him on what type of employment might be available and what might
be preferrable over the long run.
He encouraged me to obtain employment with the State Bureau of
Criminal Identification and Investigation which I eventually did
in January of 19**2. He had been the first chief of police
member of the Board of Managers which was composed of a district
attorney, a chief of police and a sheriff. He had participated
in 1909 and through the years to lobby the necessary legislation
to create the Bureau in 1917. So he was able to give me a lot
of interesting background information as to how the bureau came
to be formed.
I remember one such story was his description as to how a rather
elemental organization, technically the first State Bureau, had
been formed pursuant to 1905 legislation and set up at the prison
at San Quentin. The idea was exactly the opposite of a centralized
identification bureau, inasmuch as the purpose was to take many
fingerprints of any incoming prisoners and distribute those prints
to some 17 law enforcement agencies in the 11 western states.
It has been interesting to me to note that while some of the
sheriff's offices and police departments that were in that early
distribution pattern have had their ups and downs as far as
efficiency and honesty; nevertheless, their identification bureaus
have had a reputation for efficiency and high quality work through
the years.
The Chief told me that the sheriffs and chiefs of police, who were
not satisfied with this small bureau and were lobbying in the 1909
session so hard for some other centralized bureau with a wider
scope of activities such as we finally obtained in the 1917 statues.
But the lobbyists forgot all about the San Quentin institution and
there was no budget provided so the 1905 bureau went out of business
after about four years of existence. This could have been the 1907
session since in those days the legislature met in the odd numbered
years.
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JPH:
HUNTER:
August Vollmer haul the potentialities of a great man and he would
have succeeded whether he had stayed in his feed and fuel business
or whether he chose some other field. We are fortunate that he
happened to be interested in law enforcement and the police. Be
cause of other elements in his life he spent a number of years as
a bachelor with much time to read and his self-education was modestly
evident. I have heard him converse with doctors of medicine concern
ing the blood circulatory system in humans, talk to psychiatrists
concerning various mental afflictions and on no occasion was he in
the position of being talked down to. He did not parade his know
ledge, but he had a vast amount of information about a number of
highly technical things. I believe the one thing that he did
never master was how to drive an automobile and sometimes I believe
that that was very smart of him.
How so?
As some of the pictures of the gag organization, the International
Association of V-Men indicate, August Vollmer, like all of the
great ones, was never one to stand on rank or ceremony. He needed
no artificial props to his dignity. He mixed with his students and
was genuinely fond of them and they of him. If he had done nothing
else in his life, he at least breathed inspiration and incentive
into the hearts of many people who subsequently have very important
places in the leadership groups of law enforcement. In fact, if he
had any fault it was perhaps putting too much faith in the people
he had faith in. He would sometimes recommend people for something
that was really beyond the person's ability.
You mentioned before who was in this association of yours and how
you all got together.
Well, this was a very informal group. The "V" men, as I said, was
more or less a pap.
with V's" on them. )
(The "V" men even had badges — 7 point stars
A play on "G" Men which had been possibly
overdone about that time, but there were such people as the now
Dean Milton Chernin from the School of Social Welfare at Cal, A.E.
Parker, Burtis C. Bridges, author of the book on fingerprinting,
Ben Holmes who at one time was a U.S. Postal Inspector.
Those are more pictures of Vollmer?
Yes. Arthur Bellman, now as well as then, practicing law in the
East Bay. Persons of all ages and backgrounds who were a part of
the group that came to him for leadership and inspiration.
JPH: You were saying you used to go out to your wife's home up in Winters...
Yes. One of the social activities of "V" Men, apart from occasional
spaghetti and meatballs and beer bust in one of the Telegraph Avenue
bistros, was an annual trek to Yolo County where Muriel Bigelow's
father had a ranch abutting Putah Creek. At that time the swimming
was good in the creek and it became practically one of the "rites of
Spring" for us to spend, usually around Easter Week, swimming in
Putah Creek and using the background hills as bullet stops for our
amateur gunnery sessions.
A small illustration of the man's adjustment to himself was his
ability to tell a Joke on himself. He told us one time rather
informally, or at least nothing particular of a relevant nature
had occurred, but he was telling about his invitation to attend a
police council in Germany during his around the world trip immedi
ately after he retired from the police department. This, as you
will recall in point of time, was after the development of the
National Socialists and the S.S. which under the Nazis became high
officials in the police as well as everything else. He told us that
the conference was terminated by a rather elaborate dinner and every
one toasted everyone else and then the German police disappeared,
leaving "Uncle Gus" with the check for the dinner. And so much for
international hospitality.
During my time both on the campus , and for that matter even today
in some places , August Vollmer had to overcome a basic distrust
on the part of people who were bound to the conservative "don't
try anything new" school in law enforcement. Even today a large
portion of police administrators are very reactionary and do not
look with any interest in changes, even if they might be for the
better. Consequently, I have heard, particularly in the days when
he was still active in the university, the derogatory comments
from unenlightened law enforcement people attributing his efforts
to mere publicity grabbing.
However, I think that anyone taking an objective view of his efforts
would see that he was the spark plug that lent considerable velocity
to a lot of new ideas in the law enforcement field. He was an active
enthusiast for modus operand! which he translated into U.S. English,
both figuratively and literally, to make it possible in the U.S.
This, of course, was of interest to me because modus operand! pro
cessing is one of the things in my section which even today we have
some doubts on the part of our administrators as to whether the
technique is worthwhile. He took an active part in the formation
of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and in
lobbying for it through the years until the first bill setting up
what we essentially are now was passed in 1917. We operated in
much the same way with added tasks for well over half a century
until July 1 of this year when the present administration abolished
the Bureau and reorganized the Department.
HUNTER: One activity which may not be too well known to law enforcement
people after leaving the University and the formation of the
Regional Parks. He was a member of one of the early Board of
Directors and took an active part in transforming what had been
merely guarded watershed land, which in my day at Cal was no
man's land so far as university students and girl friends climb
ing over fences and looking for wild strawberries, into a chain
of public parks which are now showing great value to the East
Bay area. There is a "Vollmer Peak" in the north East Bay
Regional Park as a permanent remembrance of Vollmer. In fact,
these parks should be considerably larger since I understand
the use of the parks is very tremendous these days.
At the statewide level I would say his influence was very high
in the formation of this bureau and the encouragement of orga
nized groups such as the State Peace Officers Association, and
the development of the Berkeley Police Department.
Although in my day I soon found out once I left the city of
Berkeley that there were two things one did not discuss in
the general police field: (a) that you had never seen the
inside of a four-year college or (b) that you had ever been a
Berkeley policeman. There seemed to be a certain prejudice
against either condition. However, I believe that this has
long since changed and the mere fact that it has, during the
last thirty years, come about is one of the long range benefits
of August Vollmer1 s work in the field.
JRH: Do you remember any other stories about your group or anecdotes
about Vollmer?
HUNTER: No, I don't. There must have been some, but one that I did not
know of any great detail and you may have picked it up from
some of the other people or if you haven't, I'd certainly ask
them about it. The City Manager of Berkeley at one time, the
first one if I'm not mistaken, was a man named John Edy. And
he was a very much dominating type. It was the beginning of
the City Manager concept, all power went to the City Manager
and the City Council sat and backed him up and he was , from
what I gather from when I was there, a rather irascible type.
Uncle Gus did tell a tale about how on the first day of their
Traffic Safety Week that he was riding in an automobile west
bound on University Avenue somewhere between Shattuck and Grove
and I guess Edy must have been driving, because certainly the
Chief wouldn't be and so they had a collision and, this being
safety week, it was somewhat of a source of embarrassment for
the City Manager and the Chief of Police to be standing out
looking at these wrinkled fenders right in the middle of downtown,
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
He was an easy man to get along with and a very considerate man.
I, of course, had some menial Jobs in my day and I hashed while
I was going through school and I have concluded that itfc only the
phonies that have to make with a lot of front and stuffiness and
derogation of the peons and when you find someone who does that
you put him down as a phony and when you find someone who has real
status and he doesn't do that you know that he is genuinely a good
man. That I think was his way.
People say he was good with kids,
to see some of him.
You mentioned that your kids used
Yes. He would pay as much attention to the youngsters and talk to
them as individuals as grownups. In looking over material for you
I found one letter that I didn't have time to disengage. I wrote
it on a piece of note paper. Sometime in 1953 I believe, he had
written me acknowledging some book with statistics or something
that I had sent him. And after thanking me for that he said,
"Well, it's back to the hospital now for some more surgery. For
the cuttee it doesn't feel so good but I guess it's necessary to
have it done," or something, more or less philosophically, so he
pretty well accepted the world.
I think that probably about now and from here on people will begin
to see his hand in the back of many police elements. He was re
tained to reorganize the Los Angeles police department in about
1931. It could have been earlier, but there are still some things
down there in their reports that bear the mark of changes that were
adopted by August Vollmer that long ago so he had some pretty
good basic ideas.
INDEX — Thomas Hunter
Bellman, Arthur, 3
Brereton, George, 1
Berkeley, City of
Police Department, 2, 5
Bridges, Burtis C. , 3
California, State of
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, 2, U
State Police Officers Association, 5
Chernin, Milton, 3
Edy, John, 5
Fuller-ton, 1
Germany, k
Holmes, Benjamin, 3
International Association of V-Men, 3
Los Angeles Police Department, 6
modus operand! (M.O.), U
Parker, Alfred E. , 3
Regional Parks, 5
San Jose State College, 1
San Quentin, 2
University of California at Berkeley, 1
Police Administration, 1
School of Criminology, 1
School of Social Welfare, 3
Yolo County, U
University of California Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollmer Historical Project
Willard Schmidt
ENFORCING PROHIBITION: AUGUST VOLLMER, EARL WARREN,
AND WILLARD SCHMIDT
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Regents of the University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Willard Schmidt, born in 1908, was interviewed by Jane Howard as
part of a series on August Vollmer, the man and the police professional.
Mr. Schmidt brings the perspective of an individual ^ho worked his way
up through the ranks from a high school volunteer to director of the
San Jose State College Police School. Mr. Schmidt also brings the per
spective of experience as a member of Earl Warren's crimebusting squad.
Interviewer:
Time and Setting
of the Interview:
Editing:
Narrative Account
of Mr. Schmidt
and the Progress
of the Interview:
Jane Howard
One interview was held on Friday, August 27, 1971, at
the Berkeley Police Department. The location was
selected as convenient for both the interview subject
and interviewer. Mr. Schmidt was ir. the bay area
briefly for a visit, and the Berkeley Police Department
kindly made space available for the interview through
John Hoi strom. The interview began at around 7 p.m. ,
with Chief Holstrom sitting in for about 15 minutes
at the start of the interview, and concluded at about
9 p.m.
Jane Howard edited the interview for typing and clerical
errors. Mr. Schmidt corrected spelling of names and
amplified and clarified some of the sections discussing
policing technology. The changes were not major.
This interview is particularly notable for its lengthy
discussion of Mr. Schmidt's participation in Earl Warren's
raids on bootlegging and gambling establishments in the
1930' s, and for Mr. Schmidt's thoughtful reflections on
the changes in policing since Vollmer's time.
Willard Schmidt was born in Berkeley, California in 1908.
While attending Berkeley High School, Schmidt became
interested in policing and worked during his last two
years in high school as a volunteer trainee in the Berkeley
Police Department. On graduation in 1928 he went to work
for the department and served in & variety of positions
until 1938 when he left to teach at the San Jose State
College Police School. Schmidt went from this position
to the directorship of police training at Sacramento
State College. During the war, he was the national chief
of internal security. After the war, he completed his
bachelor's degree at San Jose State and went on to become
11
Willard Schmidt (cont. )
director of the San Jose State College Police School,
a position which he held until 19&». Mr. Schmidt
currently serves on the California Council of Criminal
Justice, among other activities.
The interview opens with discussion of how Mr. Schmidt
came to know August Vollmer: his father was one of the
men who urged Vollmer to run for town marshal in 1906.
When Schmidt went to work on a voluntary basis for the
Berkeley Police Department as a high school Junior he
became acquainted with Vollmer.
Schmidt discusses his early years in the department, and
his recollections of Vollmer, saying that Vollmer was a
nan who encouraged his staff to try out new ideas.
Schmidt emphasizes that many of the innovations for
which Vollmer received credit resulted from ideas devel
oped by other men, both In the department and in the
Berkeley community, notably Clarence Lee.
Schmidt comments on Vollmer *s philosophical outlook on
life, relating an incident from the night before Vollmer 's
suicide. He also talks briefly about Vollmer' s second
wife Pat. Reflecting on the current problem of aliena
tion of the police from the community, Schmidt feels that
Vollmer might have had some answers to current problems.
He discusses Vollmer 's willingness to try out new ideas
proposed by the community residents, and staff. He
speaks of Vollmer 's lighter side, discussing swimming
trips and Vollmer 's guitar playing.
The interview turns to Vollmer1 s "crab clubs," regular
Friday training sessions. In response to a question,
Schmidt explains that Vollmer was strongly opposed to use
of the third degree, to verbal abust of criminals, and
to petty theft from criminals by police officers.
Schmidt feels that this attitude was an important factor
in the respect of Berkeley lawbreakers for the Vollmer
police force.
Schmidt returns to the difference in the relation between
police and the community now and then, attributing the
good relations that characterized Vollmer 's era, in part,
to superior personnel, Vollmer 's personal rapport with
many community members and leaders , and to the fact that
most policemen lived in the community at that time.
ill
Willard Schmidt (contd. )
A lengthy discussion of Schmidt's relation to the
Earl Warren crimebusting squad follows, as planned
by Schmidt, Miss Howard and the Bancroft Library
Regional Oral History office. Schmidt collected
photographic evidence on many raids. He discusses the
gambling parlors and speakeasies in Emeryville,
Warren's investigative staff, the techniques used in
raids, and Vollmer's cooperation with Warren in the
conduct of the raids. He comments on various members
on Warren's raiding team.
After this discussion of Warren's crimebusting, the
interview returns briefly to August Vollmer, and his
work with the press, followed by further discussion of
the speakeasies and Vollmer's attitude toward prohib
ition. Schmidt talks about the careful patrols made at
night by foot patrolmen in their assigned areas. He
returns briefly to discussing the Warren raids.
The interview concludes with comments on how Vollmer
made clothes, food and lodging at the city Jail avail
able to the poor and needy in the community.
JRH: How did you get to know Vollmer?
Schmidt: He was a friend of our family going back to Vollmer's running for
Town Marshal. My uncle, George Schmidt, at the time was the
Postmaster and they needed someone to run for Marshal vho was a
popular man in town and Volloer was a postman and my uncle called
him in and said we want you to run for this particular position
and I guess there might have been a few misgivings but anyhow, he
did say he would run and was elected the first Marshal.
JRK: Do you know how he came to Berkeley and to be a postman?
Schmidt: I don't know where he came from or anything like that. He was a
friend of my father as well and I didn't know this but my first
contact with him personally was through a career day situation
given by the Berkeley YMCA in conjunction with the high school.
In your llth year they asked you what you were interested in and
they would have one person from the career field for each two
persons so I was the only one that said I was interested in police
work and my sponsor at that time was Inspector Albert S.J. Woods
who was sent up to talk to me. He got the impression that I was
sincerely interested and said, "Why don't you drop down and talk
this over with Chief Vollmer and I'm sure he'd be interested in
you." I did and as usual the Chief said, "There's only one way
to find out if you like it and that's to try it." "So, when you
get through school, you may want to come over here and do some
typing and this sort of thing," which I did.
Then the man who finally became my father-in-law, Captain Lee,
started teaching me fingerprints and photography and before I was
18 years old, Lee suffered a very serious injury to his hand — he
nearly had his hand cut off at the wrist and there wasn't anybody
to do photography and fingerprinting on the basis of latent dusting
and this sort of thing which Captain Lee had shown me. I started
doing it. Then I took an examination for the department and passed
it and when I was 18 years old I was asked to be appointed to a
position as clerk. I didn't have a badge or anything like that but
I could carry a concealed weapon which I used when I went out on
emergency calls. I was treated like a regular police officer and
from then on I was Just like anybody who had access to the Chief.
If you wanted to see the Chief, you could see him.
JRH: You were given more patrolman-type duties?
Schmidt: It was mostly clerical — fingerprints, photography, records, etc.
Then I finally went into the clerical division when I was twenty-one
as a records clerk. I worked in nearly every division of the de
partment with the exception of the budget.
Schmidt: I suffered an in-service injury and the doctor suggested I go
on the outside when I became a patrolman. I mention this injury
because Vollner always saw to it that his men were well taken
care of and we all respected him for it. There was a meeting
with the City Manager and the City Attorney tnd the Chief said
he wanted his men to know that they were going to be protected.
If they should have to think for only two or three seconds if
things are going to be all right or not, some life might be lost.
It was important to myself and a lot of other men to know that the
Chief would stand up for us in adverse situations and who would
stand up for them when they were right.
If it hadn't been for a man like Vollmer why I can remember two
times when, in a normal police department, I j.robably would have
been fired from the standpoint that I didn't do enough work. When
the Chief read the supervisor's report he called me in and gave me
the material he was given and I Just told him what I was doing and
he knew enough about the Job to know that I was more than doing my
work. He always wanted to get both sides of the story. To me,
Vollmer was the kind of man that if you made a mistake this was
all right, if it was a mistake that was the result of trying. He
didn't want you to make the same mistake twice, but a mistake that
was made sincerely is progress and he accepted it. because he was
this way. If you ever went in to see him and vou'd knock on the
door and open it , he could tell by the look on your face that you
had some sort of an idea and he'd say, "Come in." If you had an
idea he'd say, "There's only one way to fin-i out, let's try it."
After a certain period of time we'd get together again and he'd
say, "How's it working out?" and he had the ability to know that
the person who was working on it should have some ideas about how
it should be fixed or whether it was a failure. Very seldom would
he say no on something that was controversial without giving his
point of view.
JRH: So you were saying when you came in he would ask you what your
ideas were?
Schmidt: That's right. You could always discuss things with him. If you
had something detrimental to say about somebody he'd never let you
say it unless the other person was present, which was my tendency
and I've always done this particular thing too. I think that all
the men that worked with him felt this way. I would say that he
was very strong on seeing the adaptability of certain things to
police service and the ability to know the abilities and interests
of other people, with the result that he would have a kind of pro
tective covenant toward a person who was working on something in
the area of police work.
For example, Captain Clarence D. Lee who was a friend of Vollmer 's
before he (Lee) came to work for the police department, came here
because of the big fire in Can Francisco. Captain Lee was the
Secretary of the SiW Food Company and he had a number of children
Schmidt : to support , so after the fire he needed a job and Vollmer asked
bin to come to work in the Berkeley Police Department. I don't
know whether he knew that Lee would be able to bring business
principles to the department, but this was the very start of
business principles being applied in police work. Captain Lee
started a records division — index cards, cross filing, if you
please. This was done by Captain Lee in various areas so that it
improved police service. You could go in and look up the number
of a watch that had been stolen. It was Just purely business
principles.
The Berkeley Police Department was one of the first police depart
ments, with Oakland, that started fingerprints. Captain Lee did
this, but Vollmer was there and they were working together and
there was a lot of teamwork. The modus operand! that came from
Llewelyn Atcherly in England was gone over by Captain Lee and
Vollmer and they came up with Vollmer 's system of M.O. which was
the same as Atcherly 's with the exception of two points. These
two which were left out of the sequence of the English version:
Pal and Tale Told. In other words, to be able to connect a crime
that had had an object of attack, place of attack, instrument of
entry, point of entry. The English vent a little further than they
did here from the standpoint that the pal you were with might indi
cate who you were. In other words, if you and I worked together and
we were safe (lock-box) persons and if you were found in the prox
imity of it , then they could start looking for me if they knew you
and I were pals. This was recorded in record procedure. The tale
told would be if you were surprised, what your alibi was to be. It
was the thinking that on the basis of being surprised you would more
or less go into your subconscious or some background of experience
that you had so that you could talk about it. So they would be
able to identify the person. The two items of sequence, i.e.,
"Pal and Tale Told," were to be covered under an area listed as
"Trademark" in the Vollmer concept or revision. "Trademark" items
of the Vollmer M.O. System were to cover peculiarities related to
the perpetrator and not necessarily related to the res gestae or
the statutory requirements of the crime or offense. In handwriting,
Captain Lee became interested in handwriting on the basis of its use
in forgeries, bad checks, etc. He wrote one of the first books,
with Ronald Abbey of the Berkeley Police Department on the classifi
cation and identification of handwriting. All with Vollmer there
and helping.
The use of the lie detector which was first brought to the attention
of the Chief by Leonard Keeler. It had a metal camber on it and
Captain Lee invented one that had a pressure cylinder that ran on
the basis of rubber so that the heat contraction and expansion during
the run of the machine did not have as much of a problem as it did
with camber at that time. Any idea a person had, Vollmer would
encourage you and never belittle you. At least I never knew of an
instance where he belittled anybody. He would say there are a lot
of unsung heroes in the police service that he got credit for be
cause he was the head of it; it's Just like a General taking a
Schmidt: citation for his group.
Now there's one thing that Vollmer's given credit for and it was
written up in the Elk's magazine and he would have been the first
person to say that he was not responsible for, and it was on the
Junior Traffic Police. Now this is more or less recognized all
over the country. When Vollmer was in Los Angeles and an interim
Chief of Police, Captain Lee was the Acting Chief here and they
evidently were experiencing accidents in the school areas here.
They were having problems of traffic and Captain Lee had read in the
paper or heard about something that they were doing in San
Francisco, so he called up San Francisco to inquire about it and
he knew the person personally. The fellow told him what they were
doing over there and Lee said, "Well, we're going to try it here
too," and they did and they put Officer Bert Fraier in charge of
the thing and that's how it grew.
JRH:
Schmidt :
People have told me that Vollmer started it.
that Vollmer had started it.
General Dean mentioned
No, this is not true. As a matter of fact, I'm going to see
Captain Lee tomorrow and I'm going to ask him and he'll know the
name of the person. But it was operating over in San Francisco.
Now San Francisco didn't follow it up, as I understand, with
the result that it was enhanced here with signs that would come out
over the street. They didn't have the Junior Traffic Police getting
out into the street where they'd stand and put the stop sign out.
They eventually had a barrier that was operated with a handle that
was on a standard that would swing out over the line of traffic
above the top of the automobiles. This was the first part of the
Junior Traffic Police.
The studies that were made in the records division led to the
sequence of the describing of a person on the fingerprint cards
which is more or less standard procedure particularly in the State
of California and that is: the hair, eyes, height, weight, and age.
Over a period of years they made a study of what a person would
recognize first on another individual. The most points went to
hair, and then eyes, height, weight and age. That's the reason why
they would put it in that sequence and it was very helpful because
when you were talking to a citizen, when you started at the head
of the list and got to the end, you knew that you'd gone through
the whole thing, rather than in haste, and in the problems of
making an investigation you overlook a lot of things if you don't
have a set routine. Set routines can be dangerous too. If you go
in with a preconceived idea about what you're going to see then
you're. .. .For example, if I lose my knife and you help me find it,
you're going to pick up other objects — money and that sort of
thing — that I won't pick up and won't necessarily perceive and
I'll say I Just went by that place and you're finding all that sort
of stuff and it's because I know what I'm looking for with a
conditioning and your mind is still receptive.
Schmidt: My wife and I've been on picnics with Vollmer; went to dances
with him and his wife; been to his home and had dinner with him
and he was Just a personal friend. One thing to me that gave
him his philosophical outlook on life would be from the stand
point that I think that I was at his place the night before his
death and we had been talking that afternoon. And usually at the
end of a gabfest (as he called them) if we vere going to have
dinner or leave one another, why he had a kind of a ritual where
we would go up to the kitchen and have a cocktail and he was the
only one who knew how to make this kind of a cocktail. And this
particular evening about 6 o'clock, he climbed up to the top of
his cupboard in the kitchen and got down his favorites and put
them in a glass and then he said, "Now walk over there and open
that drawer (since he had palsy) and I opened the drawer and he
said, "that little spoon in there, put that in the glass for me,
would you." I put it in the glass for him and he took hold of
it and he said, "Well, the Lord gave me this affliction, but it's
the best stirring action I ever had." Right up to the end he
was philosophical; not regrettable about it, at least from his
outside appearance. At this time, as a suggestion, Mrs. Miller,
his housekeeper might be a person to interview.
JRH: Do you know where she is now?
Schmidt: It's my understanding that when he died he gave her the house.
She was a very fine woman and she dearly loved the Chief and he
liked her too. She Just took care of him "wonderfully and I dare
say that that was the one person who had more insight than
anybody else, because in his last days he suffered extreme pain,
so he told me. He said it was one of thesi* things. Not being
able to get in and out of bed by himself.
JRH: He outlived his wife.
Schmidt: Yes. But he had two wives. I think the first one's name was
tydia Sturdivant. I was told she was a very fine vocalist. The
other one we called Pat and she was a very fine woman and a wife
and pal to the Chief. As a matter of fact, there were Just
hundreds of people that used to visit the Chief that he would
give information to and discuss and who he helped. He helped me
and nearly everybody that he touched. His wife started an organi
zation that she called the "V-Men." We didn't know who all were
in it because it was a kind of thing between the two of them,
where she would give you this little gold V and that was to say,
"Well, you're a Vollaer man now. You can be trusted and you're
honest and you're a professional policeman." I used to discuss
with the Chief the difference between a law enforcement man and
a policeman and this is particularly true when we got closer to
the era we're in now and I believe that there is a decided dif
ference between a law enforcement man and a policeman.
JRh: In what sense?
Schmidt : The law enforcement man is a person who has had to use the area
of selective neglect from the police field. The police field is
a very broad thing. Service ideal is one of the things important
to people. More and more demands are made by the public and with
the less money we have to work with, we have to find the areas of
neglect on a priority basis, so I call it selective neglect, with
the result that we come down to the particular situation now that
instead of an on view arrest, which is an arrest made by an officer
out on the beat, we're so busy rendering work to a call, as a
result of a citizen's call, you very seldom ever see a pedestrial
patrolman. When I used to check my doors on Shattuck Avenue,
people would smile and say, "Good evening, officer" and if you see
a man walking the street now in uniform, people turn around to look
and perhaps follow him to see what's doing. This has done some
thing to the heart of our community. We have two officers together
now for mutual protection and we have lost the contact with the
public because even in a confessional you're alone with a person
so how would you want to give some information that would be con
sidered confidential where there's two people together. This is
an area of selective neglect in police service, with the result
that the farther we get away from that, the more we are Just law
enforcement, which would be bad. Vollmer might have had an answer
to some of this or he would have found somebody who had an idea
and back him up.
There was a time when the business people of Berkeley were up in
arms about the parking situation: whether they should park parallel
or diagonal. It was a very serious situation from the standpoint
of the Chief because the traffic engineer said we park this way
because it's safer and they've painted it this way. The business
men came down to City Hall and instead of Vollmer getting mad and
saying we know what we're doing, he said, "Gentlemen, what do you
want?" They said they wanted a certain situation and he said, "Let's
try it . " They tried it and came back in three or four months and
said, "you're right, change it the other way."
In my administration when a man got into trouble or got the depart
ment into trouble and it was an honest mistake, ask him first, how
did he think we could get out of it and ninety-nine times out of
one hundred a person that has gotten into trouble knows a way out
of it if it's Just a mistake of progress. This is Just an off sprout
of Vollmer "s philosophy that I Just said in a different way. Ke'd
say, well, let's try it, and at least this gave him time enough to
think in case you didn't have the right answer.
Vollmer was a good swimmer. He used to swim up at Putah Creek
while pickni eking. We would go up there with Captain Lee and his
family. I used to go to the same school with Marjorie Lee long
before she became my wife, but I didn't know she was related to
Schmidt :
Bob Lee who was a longtime friend of mine. When I was working
at the Berkeley Police Department we had an assist case for
Contra Costa County on an accidental death that proved to be a
murder out in Walnut Creek — the Schwartz murder case — and I
was only about 16 or 17 years old and we were going out to make
an investigation of that particular case and Captain Lee was going
out at night to make his investigation. He took me over to his
place for dinner and that's when I found out that Marjie was the
sister of this fellow I went with,
related to Captain Lee.
So that's how I started to get
Incidentally, the clue that brought it to a head that this was a
murder out there rather than a suicide or an accident was due to
the fact of the application of Bertillon from the standpoint of
the picture that was enlarged compared to one taken of the corpse.
In other words, the head profile (badly burned) of the corpse was
taken on an original 8 x 10 plate and it was nearly life size.
There was another small picture of a group and It had pictures of
the heads about an l/8th of an inch high, one known to be Schwartz.
We photographed and enlarged the "exemplar head" to the same size
as the 8 x 10 plate and in the profile view we found that it was
not Schwartz that was dead; that Schwartz had a straight nose and
the one of the corpse was concave. The septum was all gone in the
corpse so this is when they started making a further inquiry and
found out where Schwartz was staying. Schwartz was a scientist and
had done work for the Berkeley Police Department in scientific
evidence. He had insurance for his wife and had a paramour in
Oakland. Schwartz murdered a tramp of his general size and used
the body in a set up to make it appear that an explosion and fire
accidently took place in his laboratory, he being killed in the
explosion. Thus Schwartz would be mourned by his wife but he would
be able to live out his life with his paramour under a pseudonym.
Captain Lee and Ralph Pidgeon who was a Sergeant of Berkeley Police
at the time and some Oakland policemen went down to his place of
abode in Oakland but he shot himself before they could get in to
him and make an arrest.
Vollmer was quite a music and song man. He loved to play the guitar.
I used to play the accordian and Captain Lee played the banjo.
Vollmer played with a zest and he seemed to be a very versatile
man in all of his pursuits. We all dearly loved him. It might seem
as though we're prejudiced — well, if it's prejudice that's all
right as far as I'm concerned because he was a very fine person.
JRH: I haven't found anyone who disliked him.
Schmidt : He would be the first one to admit and the one who would have it
straightened out that he took many a citation because it belonged
to the group. He always gave you credit.
8
JRH: Do you remember any of the picnics or parties with him?
Schmidt: He was Just like anybody else. When he was on a picnic he wasn't
the Chief, he was Just people. I wouldn't call it relaxed, but
it would be Just like either you or me on a picnic. This situa
tion of bowing to him because he was the Chief never entered your
mind.
It has been a wonder to a lot of us as to the reason why Vollmer
did not drive an automobile. His wife Pat always drove for him
and he was a pretty good steerer at times, I understand. I Know
one rather unusual anecdote about the Chief; it was during the
pioneering stages of the boulevard stop signs. They were being
concerned with color and shape. Now to you at your age you've
accepted them as a standard thing, but at the very start of this
thing there was a question as to whether they should be triangular,
square or octagonal; what would be the most visible color. They
went to the scientists to find out whether green or yellow or red
would be. They had installed a sign at Bancroft and Telegraph
Avenue where they were making a study to find out the number of
people that noticed the sign and stopped as compared to signs
elsewhere which were a different type and shape and things like
that. Officer Clarence Taylor, who was in charge of the traffic
division, was driving the Chief down Bancroft Way and he (Taylor)
was saying, "Now I think that's about the best sign we've got."
Well, they stopped about where the campus theater was, which was
about a half a block below Telegraph Avenue and he said, "Chief,
you know what we Ju§t did?" Vollmer said "What?" and Taylor said,
"We were talking about that stop sign and we went through it I"
Vollmer told me this a number of times because it gave him an idea
about how people' can violate laws unknowingly with the result that
he didn't get mad at anybody when they went through a boulevard
stop sign because it happened to him.
I think it was the philosophy of all of us that we might hate the
transgression but not the transgressor. We all were brought up on
his philosophy and part of it was that if we had a case with you
now, it was forgotten on the next case. I think he realized that
if there was any man from his department who was resentful or was
the type of person who thought, well, while I won't be able to get
him to court, he's going to have to stay in Jail overnight. Vollmer
wouldn't stand for any of this. None of us would. If you fired
your gun you would have to get up before the whole group on the
Friday Crab Club hour and give the factors of what happened and
then there was a decision made by the men from the standpoint of
this way or this way; right or wrong. No matter how you fired the
gun or why you had to fire it; even if it was an injured dog or
something like that. This was a part of the training, responsibility
for firing a firearm. This might of saved some people's lives, but
of course, it might have cost a policeman his life.
JRH: Hov often did he have these Friday meetings?
Schmidt: Every Friday for an hour between U and 5 p.m. with the exception
of during the summers when we would be going to school for three
months every Friday. The whole department went.
JRH: Who set up these training sessions?
Schmidt: The Chief, on the basis of what they called the "Crab Club." For
instance, if you had anything against any man in the department
you said it right there in front of him and after it was over it
was forgotten; you didn't go out and squawk about the man or
degrade somebody in the department or say anything about him. As
a result, in the summertime, they would have people like
Dr. Hubert N. Rowell who was very interested in sex cases and the
insanities. Dr. Juan Don Ball who was a psychiatrist; Dr. Stanley
who was over at San Quentin and wrote a book not too long ago about
the criminals in San Quentin, many others aluo. Vollmer would
nearly every day go to the Jail and talk to all the people in the
Jail. He was able to have people who were criminals come in and
lecture and tell us as to how they committed their crime. One in
particular I remember was called Frisco Billy and he was reputed
to be the best safe man in the country. He came in and told us
how he was able to open these safes and get around the police.
Vollmer was capable of convincing these people they ought to do
these lectures.
JRH: Dean Chernin told me Vollmer taught him how to crack a safe and
also how to forge.
Schmidt : As a matter of fact , when Billy was lecturing to us we had a safe
blown up at Friedman Paint Company and a number of us stayed up
there overnight because the person in the American Grill had seen
people on top of the roof and told them to get off and they got off.
We thought they were going to come back there again to blow the
safe up so we waited all that weekend and Monday morning when the
paint store openedup they said "Hey, our safe has been blown open."
What had happened, the persons knew their business so well they
wrapped the safe and they used a technique with nitroglycerin — I
don't know whether you're interested in this sort of thing.
JRH: Yes.
Schmidt: They put paper in the crack of the safe at the top (cigarette
paper) and puttied all the sides and the bottom with octagen soap
and they poured the nitro on top of the paper and let it seep down
and when it started to come down to the bottom where a small opening
was left, they knew how much they had to have and they'd stop that
up, put the igniter at the top and then they wrapped the whole safe
with a bunch of cloths — drop cloths and wallpaper — and when it
went off there was Just a "wuff." Just took the door off to a
place about that far (l/8th inch as shown by spacing between thumb
and index finger). You could then Just fores it open about an
10
Schmidt: l/8th of an inch. Jimmy was giving this lecture while they were
knocking off the safe and we never did prove who did it. I got in
on a lot of these so-called stakeouts because that time I didn't
smoke and in many places where you had to be in — buildings under
construction, where people were throwing creosote to cause damage
or people were stealing out of stores at night and you didn't know
who it was -- the fact that I didn't smoke didn't bother me when
I had to be in a place for eight hours and where if they had another
man who usually smoked he would have to refrain because the scent
of smoke would betray him. The fact that I was working for two
years without pay between the age of 16 and 18, (I was in every
division) doing work for them, working at night with a patrolman
and things like that, I could go where I wanted to or where they
wanted me and the experience I got was wonderful. This could have
never happened in any other department except that Vollmer said this
is what you can do. I went to him one time and he could tell from
the frown on my face that something was wrong. He asked me what
was the matter and I said, "Chief, you told me to find out if I
wanted to be a policeman and I said I didn't think I could do
this sort of thing." He said, "What's the matter T" and I said,
"I'm sick to my stomach because I Just locked up a man." It was
the first person that I had ever locked up and I was about 16 or
17 years old. He said, "Well, now, this is the type of person we
like to get in police work." If you had any part in you that was
resentful or you kept anything against anybody, he didn't want you
in the Department. He was a humanitarian. You didn't hit anybody
except in defense of yourself; you didn't abuse anybody; you
treated a lady as a lady regardless of her walk in life.
JRH: People say he was very much against giving the third degree tactics
or getting confessions.
Schmidt: Absolutely. I don't like to use confessions because that had con
notations of abuse. I like to say the person made a statement
admitting his guilt. You didn't do this. If you hit anybody or
anything like that you were through. There was no second time and
you were told about it beforehand. He didn't want you to Just stand
there and get beaten up, but we all had the theory that you were a
poor policeman if you couldn't keep your temper if a drunk cussed
you out. This was one of the personality traits he wanted.
The offenders of the law had respect for the Department. For
example, I remember the time on the West Berkeley beat, we had a
fellow who had been arrested for burglary, iudecent exposure,
forgery, and was a problem. I told him to leave the corner down
there one night because he was pretty drunk. I said, "Spot, get
off the corner because you're looking like the dickens." He said,
"All right," and I came back about 15 minutes later and he still
was there. I said, "Spot, what did I tell you?" He said, "For me
to leave the corner," and I said, "Now what do you think I ought
to do with you?" and he said, "Lock me up." So I went over to the
box to call for the wagon to come and lock him up and at that time
11
Schmidt: the steady light cane on. The red light that hangs out in the
middle of the street and they have a way of signaling you. In
other words, if your number was 26, it would flash twice and then
a short time lapse and six times followed by a long time lapse,
and when it came on steady this meant an emergency and all the
police all over town were supposed to find out what was doing.
Just about the time I was to hit the box the steady light came on
and I answered and was told there was a fight at the Mexican
section house. It would be better to stop a fight where someone
might get killed than bring in a drunk so I reached in my pocket
(I didn't tell the Sergeant about "Spot") and I got a dime and
said, "Here, Spot, take the streetcar and turn yourself in." So
he tells the Sergeant what I said and he did it. Most of Berkeley
offenders thought the world of Vollmer. He knew Vollmer and
Vollmer knew Spot and it was because he used to visit the Jail Just
about every morning and talk to the people rfho were in there and
see if they had been treated well. He might arrest you, but by
gosh you were treated like a gentleman. This was part of all of
us. Not because of the Chief but because he only kept people who
believed in this.
JRH: Were there other things he didn't tolerate besides the third degree?
Schmidt: Dishonesty fromthe standpoint of taking something that didn't belong
to you. For example, bringing in a drunk and taking the money out
of his pocket and saying he didn't have it because he's drunk and
doesn't know how much money he's got. I wouldn't doubt but what
there were times that he would have people do this, not so much to
find out whether or not we were dishonest, but to be able to
defend us when someone accused us, and there's a difference there.
At least I feel this way about it. When I was a patrolman if
someone made accusations about us the first thing we'd do was call
in our Sergeants to defend us. Our Sergeants were not "snooper-
visors" they were supervisors. If we did have a snoopervisor, he
didn't last long under the Chief. I don't say that it was hard
to get that type of man in Berkeley at that time because Berkeley'
was a town with a lot of good citizens during Vollmer' s regime
here and later.
At one time I know Berkeley had the highest drunk rate of any town
inthe United States. This was a result of the fact that anytime
anyone was drunk, there were three or four citizens who would call
up. But there are other towns I could name that if they happened
to see a drunk in the gutter they'd say, "Well, he's been out."
On the second day if he was still there they'd say, "I wonder if
he's got any money," then on the third day when the flies were in
and out of his mouth and he was bloated they'd say, "Hey, I wonder
if he's dead." There were different people here. Prostitution —
you wouldn't have an arrest for prostitution here once in three or
four years. We only had about two murders when I was in the
department. I don't know whether two wanted fellows are still
alive: Louis Guerrerra and Feliz Maldinado. The type of people we
had in Berkeley had a part in the Vollmer story.
12
JRH:
Schmidt :
JRH:
Schmidt :
JRH:
Schmidt:
JRH:
Schmidt :
That's an interesting part that no one has talked about before.
It would be interesting to go back to the newspapers of the time
he was here to find the headlines of some of the cases which
were headlines three inches high and now are on the second page.
For example, now I read in the paper where a man's head was blown
off and there's a byline only about a quarter of an inch high and
it's about three inches long on the first page and two inches on
the next and they say there were narcotics there and no more than
usual. Why, narcotics arrests in Berkeley when I was a police
officer and when Vollmer was here were unusual, which indicated
the type of people we had.
Why do you think Berkeley had such different kinds of people than
other communities?
Well, this gets into a lot of sociological situations,
times.
Compared to, say Emeryville or Oakland at that time.
Changing
I might explain it this way. When you talh to people about
personnel, if you have 90/1 of your people in an organization that
are tops, they're in a position to boost the poor ones out. Much
like the PGfcE. If they get a bummer, they Just don't belong. And
so when we started getting that percentage down here to the 60's
and 70' s, then your good people leave because they're rather
inclined not to want to upset anybody. Or they give in easier
and pretty soon you have the ones who are economic cowards:
close to pension, their wife is sick or the roots are so far down
that they're scared to do anything. To me, I hear an awful lot
about Berkeley but I've been in Berkeley for two days and I've
had more "Hello" and "How are you" from the Black people and other
people haven't even waved. People are Just scared to say hello.
This makes police work harder. The policemen at that time were
known as individuals because we were a small community. There was
a time when they were recognized taking their children to church
and knew that the policeman was a human being.
Did they tend to live in the community in those days?
Always did.
There was a time when I was an Acting Sergeant — I was never a
Sergeant. I was an Acting Sergeant as a lot of us were. There
were a number of misgivings about a number of us being Acting
Sergeants when they had positions for five and they only filled
the positions with two. We used to think the city was saving a
lot of money and maybe they did, but it may also have been on the
basis of a training program for us because even though I was an
Acting Sergeant I learned an awful lot. We used to get together
and divide the watch and if I was entitled to Sunday off we would
13
Schmidt: agree among ourselves and if there were four denominations in
that shift, that you could go to your church once in four times
on a trade-day-off basis so that people could see you with your
children and wife and that gives people a different outlook.
You Just don't appreciate a person until you can realize that a
policeman can cry when a member of his family is dead and that
he hates to see an animal killed. In that respect, Pat O'Keefe,
who was a patrolman, had a dog he had to shoot and he held the
dog's head in his hand out of pity and shot him in the head and
put a bullet through his finger on the other side of the dog's
head.
JRH: How was Vollmer a part of the comnunity?
Schmidt: First, when he was elected Marshal he had been a postal carrier
and it's my understanding that he used to be the carrier for the
other carriers that were off on vacation, sick leave, etc. with
the result that he was known all over town and his service ideal
in seeing to it that they got the letters with a hello and the
personal contact with his customers was more than anybody else
in town, so everybody knew him. I go back a long time because
my family was the second family and had the first house in
Berkeley. The Caustigan house was called the first but it was in
Oakland on the other side of where the Claremont Hotel now stands.
I don't think that there were more than 500 - 1,000 people here
and when the University started here the town grew. We had
college professors living here, we had business people from San
Francisco living here. It was a different type of an economy.
JRH: Was there any industry at that time?
Schmidt : Oh yes . In fact there was a lot of sqawking about the Ford
Motor Company which they did not let put their plant here, but
Ford put it in Richmond instead. They let the Heinz Pickl* Works
put their factory up here. This sort of thing was a terrific
impact in Berkeley. They aroused the public on this, but now they
could care less. Whether this is good or bad I don't know.
Berkeley was a cultural town, with family Sunday treks to the
University of California grounds, the Greek Theatre for dramatics
and musicals. The Parathania was enjoyed as an annual event by
a tremendous audience. People picknicked on the University of
California grounds with its beautiful landscaping and places of
repose .
They had a situation here where the business machines were first
used in police work. The first machine that they had here was
the old Powers. It had a round key punch hole and in discussing
modus operand! with the person who came from the Powers Company,
I mentioned to him one day that we did not have enough columns on
Schmidt: the card to be able to take care of the modus operand! and the
various aspects of the crimes and our cases. (They call it
programming now.) He said they couldn't get any «ore columns
on the card and I said, "You can if you do away with the circles."
He said, "What do you meant" I said, "With the clrclea you've
got one, two, three areas so if you move them over you have
space in the central area and you've picked up another position."
He said, "My gosh," and that's where it started, the idea of
having the parallelograms as we call them now instead of the
round circles and I'll bet they still have the round punch cards
here in the early records. The Hollerith machine came out and it
still had the round and I don't know whether IBM started the
parallel or not, but at least the idea originated in the Berkeley
Police Department.
JRH: Did you meet Vollmer as a child?
Schmidt: I probably met him at the Elks' Club because I used to go to the
Elks' Club with my Dad when I was a young squirt but I wouldn't
have remembered him then. He and my father vere very close
friends. They used to talk kind of Chinese mimicry to one another
and had fun together but I was Just a little bit of a fellow. My
very first personal contact with him was after I went to the YMCA
career meeting.
JRH: Why don't we talk about the crime busting thing with Warren?
Schmidt: In this era, Prohibition, around 1928, bootlegging flourished in
the Emeryville area. There was also some of it in the departments,
although the major part of the department didn't have any part of
it. Even in the Oakland Police Department there were arrests of
some of their people who were in it. It got to the extent that
if a policeman was standing in front of a certain establishment,
that meant it was alright to go in there and gamble and drink your
liquor. If he wasn't there don't go in. It was to the extent
that if the District Attorney would call on the Department and say
bring your men in to plan a raid, they knew they were going to have
a raid. With the result that if the policeman wasn't standing in
front of the place, he had been called in, which indicated that
Earl Warren was going to pull a raid . In other words , let ' s say
that we have a police department that is amenable to bootlegging.
They knew when there was going to be a pending raid when they
would get all the police officers from that department into the
squad room to discuss who they were going to raid. So when the police
man had to leave this area to go down and have this discussion, they
15
Schmidt: would say there's going to be a raid and would be found sitting
around playing dominoes. That's how bad it was.
JRH: They had a pretty good alert system.
Schmidt: That's right. A very good term. After they did make arrests
there was nothing done on the basis of certain Judges. They
had a select number of Judges so you would get search warrants
and that sort of thing with the result that the cost of "knock
ing" over these places started to become prohibitive. In
gambling, which was the Olema Club, that was a place in Emeryville
that had a square block and they ran buses to Sacramento, Stockton
and San Francisco to bring people in there to gamble. They had
a place that was highly secured from the standpoint that you had
to go through two doors and these doors were never opened at the
same time. You'd go into a little room and then the other door
would open up and lookouts would look at you as a "check out" from
both sides. They had a complete automotive repair shop there so
that if you had a hit and run car you could take your car in and
for a certain sum it would be fixed up. Beautiful place inside —
seven safes to carry the money in and it was a big operation.
That was in connection with prostitution as well as.... it was a
wide open area.
They would start to raid a place and they had the doors laminated
with steel between them so it would be hard for you to bust
through. We used to be able to get in with battering rams and
axes, but then they made the entrances to the doorways with a
slanting wall so that you couldn't swing your axe. You couldn't
get around the corner with a battering ram; finally they got to
the spot where they had opened the door and they would pour the
liquor down the sink, with the result that they (the Investigators)
went over and got enough alcohol content in sponges so that they
were able to have a case. Then pretty soon the law enforcement
officers started getting it out of the gooseneck under the sink
where they dumped the liquor and then the bootleggers would take
the gooseneck out and have it go into a straight pipe into the
sewer where it couldn't be retrieved. The law enforcement people
would get under the house at the time they weren't there and cut
the pipes so that it would run down into a bucket and finally they
got so they concreted this. This raiding group, under Earl Warren,
and his assistant Charley Weir, was officiated by Capt. Helms;
Oscar Jansen was the man under Capt. Helms and under Oscar Jansen
he had a group of men named George Hard, Heningson, Chet Flint and
two other people I don't recall now. They were the raiding people.
JRH: Were they employed by the D.A.'s office?
Schmidt: They were investigators for the District Attorney. Just like they
would be patrolmen in the police department.
JRH: Mrs. Fry at Bancroft thought that at first he didn't have any paid
staff. Do you know about that?
16
Schmidt: This could have been before my time.
JRH: At that time he did have how many men?
Schmidt: Helms, Harry Piper — Helms was Captain, then next in command vat
Oscar Jansen, and then his men were Harry Piper, George Henningson,
George Hard, Chet Flint and another fellow. Those were the persons
I worked with and also there would be times when Warren would ask
for 25 or 30 men from the Berkeley Police Department to go down
there. They would Just start "knocking" over the places. I
remember ve got into one place one time and Officer Harstad from
the Berkeley Police Department had to shoot *.t a fellow because he
was shot at when he went into the place that was being raided.
They got an idea that they would take photographs of these places.
We'd gotten to the particular spot and we'd know how these houses
were built and we'd get up in the attic and walk across where we
thought we would be in the barroom and you'd Jump up in the air and
put your hands over your face and fall down into the room and be
able to grab the bottles of liquor before they got rid of them.
The bar and the place where they had the liquor would be below. It
was plaster up there and it would support a person so you would
walk on the ceiling Joists and Just come down through the plaster
but you wouldn't know whether you would hit F. chair or fall on top
of somebody or whatever it would be. I would take pictures. I
would come down sometimes and others would too.
JRH: With the camera?
Schmidt: Oh no. The camera was too big and heavy. Big 8 x 10 view camera.
The camera was brought in after the initial raid. You had to be
very selectful in the pictures you took because in those times we
only had magnesium flashes and you couldn't take more than two or
three pictures because of the flash smoke in the room would obliter
ate the scene. From then on we started taking pictures and in all
these places they vere having trouble with, they were able to abate.
They didn't have to call any witnesses because Warren produced
these pictures in court and what could the Judges do but convict.
JRH: That's how you came into it?
Schmidt: Yes. And that's how I knew about Earl Warren and how he started
from the standpoint of a gangbuster plus the fact that he made
investigations and arrested the Sheriff of Alameda County.
JRH: Sheriff Becker is a name I'm supposed to ask you about.
Schmidt: Yes, Becker and a Captain of the Highway Patrol. They were sent
to San Quentin and were convicted on the basis of a paving scandal.
I forget the name of the Captain of the Highway Patrol. The
scandal had to do with the buying of rights of way and getting too
much money for the paving of some of the streets in Alameda County,
as I recall.
17
Schmidt : There were situations where I happened to be in Oakland and
sometimes I would go to the dance hall in Oakland and the Chief
knev that I was going there. Through those people there I was
able to affect more arrests on felony arrest warrants than any
of the other fellows put together because I got to know the girls
and they got to know me and they didn't know that I was a police
officer.
I found out that they had some rather large stills in Oakland.
This involved a number of Oakland police officers. Through
Earl Warren they were "knocked over" and I did something there
that I shouldn't have done and I didn't find out that I had done
wrong until I got into a chemistry class about 15 years later
when I retired and went to San Jose State. With all the alcohol
fumes I thought that when I set off the flash that it would ignite
the alcohol fumes but I found out later that alcohol will not
ignite that way and we broke out all the windows out of the house
without the need to.
These alcohol raids in connection with Earl Warren didn't last
Just one or two days; it went on for months. When we would go
into a house that was a two-story house, there would be nothing
but five gallon cans of alcohol and you would arrest the man that
was there and it would take the rest of the night to break the
alcohol out of the cans. You'd have to hit Jt at least six times
on all sides and on the top and bottom. I remember oae particular
night when Oscar Jan sen and Helms thought we were going to be in
a lot of trouble because there was so much alcohol that was in one
house and it came out in the back yard and flowed out the driveway
into the gutter and started flowing down the gutter and about three
blocks away a person threw a match in it and it started coming up
the street and putting water and alcohol together and it takes an
awful lot of water to saturate the alcohol to the point where it
won't catch on fire. It got right out to the front of the house
and into the driveway before we were able to get it out. These
raids took a period of a year or so with the result of the
notoriety and what Warren stood for — that he was a champion of
the cause of good citizenship and law and order.
JRH: I'd like to hear how you got detailed into this raiding group.
Schmidt : I was in photography and other places where they had a photographer
they would have to tell him ahead and they were scared to tell
anybody else because they didn't know who they could trust. Most
of the people they could trust were at the Berkeley Police
Department. Vollmer and Warren were close friends. There was a
period of time when all the new Deputies came to Berkeley as Deputy
District Attorneys because of the fact that the Berkeley Police
Department had so much training that it helped those people learn
the ropes from the standpoint of dealing with honest policemen.
Now I'm not saying that other police departments were dishonest, but
the reputation was that anybody who was working for Vollmer could
be counted on where in some other instances they might not know for
sure.
18
Schmidt : That was the beginning of the Warren and Vollaer coabination and
my first contact with the raiding group. lie knows me and one
tine I gave his name as a reference. This was the time when I
got a Job with the government and I was in charge of policing the
Japanese camps after the evacuation and I was in a riot in Tule
Lake when a personnel investigator came up and said you're in
trouble. I asked him what was the natter and he said I have the
name of Earl Warren as a reference in your 57 Form and we went
down to see him and he says he doesn't know you. I said well
maybe he's like everybody else — no one knows my name as Willard,
they all knew me by my nickname "Huck" and maybe he only knows me
by "Huck." So he saw me about four months later and he said he
went to see the Governor again and when he said "Huck Schmidt"
the Governor said, "Of course, I didn't know him by Willard."
Earl Warren had a wonderful memory for names and faces. He had
the ability to remember faces and connect them and was like an
old Bertillon man. There for a long time when they wanted someone
on the basis of a circular or photograph that they would use the
Bertillon man of the department to go out and try to search for
the man because they were concerned with earmarks and various
measurements of the faces so that they were able to remember the
things by attaching them to the individuals. Warren had a keen
ability to remember names.
JRH: I guess I misunderstood you over the phone when I talked to you.
I thought you said you did something with cryptography or some
thing like that. Did you mean photography?
Schmidt: No, cryptography was Captain Lee. That was analyzing secret
writing on the basis of frequency of items that you're able to
decode and that sort of thing. I've done a little bit. Captain
Lee was more interested in it and so was Vollmer. We would discuss
these things even at a picnic as to whether it was a lot of
hullabaloo or whether it was something you could feel sure that
you could say a person did commit a crime on the basis of this
cryptoanalysis. At that time we all" agreed that we wouldn't want
to put ourselves in that position.
JRH: Do you know of any other ways in which Vollmer and Warren worked
together?
Schmidt: Oh yes. Vollmer would know what Warren was doing because Warren
was using Vollmer 's men.
JRH: On these raids and in other things?
Schmidt: That's right. When they needed more than four people. For
example, with the Olema Club, I'd say there were close to UO police
officers there one night. We arrested about 200 people in an
evening. Those people were even brought from the Olema Club in
Emeryville up in our Patrol Wagon, what we called the "Pike Wagon"
or the Black Maria and they'd put so many in there at one time the
19
Schmidt ;
JRH:
Schmidt
JRH:
Schmidt :
JRH:
Schmidt:
JRH:
Schmidt :
front wheels came off the ground and it couldn't be driven.
They'd have to take people and put them up in front or take them
off the rear because there was so much overhang in back of the
rear wheels that excessive weight raised the front.
How come they could put them in the Berkeley Jail if it happened
in Emeryville? Wasn't there a question of Jurisdiction?
Well, this could have been a technicality and I didn't know any
thing about it. I do know we had the prostitutes from down there.
There was some technical way Mr. Warren knew that this could be
taken care of. Maybe their Judges weren't available at that
particular time. It might have been that it was the Volstead Act
and it wasn't an ordinance. It had to be legal otherwise Warren
wouldn ' t have done it .
Did his staff get larger?
I never knew of his staff getting any larger than the ones I knew.
Piper was in charge of homicides and when he left they had to get
several people in to replace him. How large it got I don't know.
Harry Piper was a homicide investigator and incidentally he got
with Earl Warren through Vollmer because Piper was injured in
World War I and it was on the basis of rehabilitation that he came
to work as a fingerprint person in the Berkeley Police Department
and he was very small and could never have passed the physical
height requirement in any police department. He was a real bang-up
police investigator. A human dynamo. He had an oriental look
and dark hair; he wasn't an oriental but he could have done some
very good undercover work too. I don't know if he ever did. You
see, Emeryville was a manufacturing town and it wasn't very much
residential with the result that this could never have happened
in a town like Berkeley because it had different people.
Do you remember Chester Flint? I gather he was on the police force
when you were. Is that right?
He was in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
Do you still know him or do you remember what he was like then?
Sure. I remember what he was like then and he's still the sc
and his son is Just about like him. He was a hard working law
enforcement man and he's a lot older than I am and working with
that type of person too, when I was 17 and 18 years old, his service
ideals kind of rubbed off on me. They were (Warren's men) always
perfect gentlemen and never abused anybody. You knew where you
stood with them. I remember when we opened the Olema Club which
was a place where you could take all the money to hold as evidence.
With all of us trying to get in they were able to take some of
the money from the gambling tables, of which there were 15 to 25,
and they'd put the money in a safe, with the result that Oscar
Jansen told the head man who was there to open the safe. He said
20
Schmidt: no, the boss had the combination and I don't Know it. So I asked
Oscar if he wanted the safe opened and he said yes and I said
"Well, I can do it for you," and he said, "Go ahead." I went to
the machine shop and got a sledge hammer and a drift pin and
knocked off the combination and drifted the pin inside of it and
opened the safe and showed the money. If you had lectures given
to you by experts right in your own department you could remember
those things. Vollmer would ask somebody to give a lecture and
we'd all be there — Uo to 50 of us.
JRH: Did you mention Lloyd Jester as being one of the men who was an
investigator?
Schmidt: Jester; the Jester I knew was the Chief of Police in Albany. But
Lester was the fellow who was with the California Adult Authority.
He at one time was a Deputy Chief in Los Angeles.
JRH: This is a name they gave me to ask you about so it should have to
do with Earl Warren. Lloyd Jester they say.
Schmidt: Now that you mention it, there's a possibility that Jester might
have worked as an investigator like Heningson and George Hard and
Flint. From there he became Police Chief of Albany.
JRH: But you don't know for sure about that?
Schmidt: No. But as you mention it, I think he was one of the investigators
in the District Attorney's Office and eventually went to Albany
after Chief John Glavinovich retired.
JRH: I interviewed his daughter.
Schmidt: She knows an awful lot about Chief Vollmer. They worked together
and I think both of them had a philosophy of fairness. In the
Department as a police officer, I, as well as others, could put
on reports "no publicity" and the newspaper people at that time
would respect that. They would come to you and ask you why you
wanted this and if they didn't think you had a good reason they'd
go to Vollmer and he'd say, "Well, we can't do it." They had
respect for each other and that was instilled by Vollmer and we
worked together and if there was something we didn't agree upon
on the basis of publicity, they'd tell us about it but they respect
ed our Judgment. This had a great deal to do with the success of
the Berkeley Department because we had the Post Inquirer, the
Examiner, who was Payne, and Soto was with the Post Inquirer and
Rose Glavinovich was with the Tribune and I knew all of them and
they knew me.
I remember I had to kill a man one time and Rose talked to me about
it the next day and said, "Now Huck, don't start puffing up over
it. You had to do it but...." and she meant it too. I wasn't
puffing up over it because it was an awful feeling. We used to say
21
Schmidt: that Vollmer had high I.Q. '» for his men. You had to have a
high I.Q. to get on the Job but you had to be dumb enough to
see that you got scared two days after something happened.
We used to check all of our alleys, all of our lights. And
whether by inference or by talk we thought it was a disgrace to
have a fire on our beat at nighttime that we didn't discover
first and that someone else had called in. That's the feeling
we had for our town's people that they had to be protected and
it wasn't some dime novel attitude we had. It was a sincere
attitude.
JRH: One thing I'm supposed to ask you is who did what part of these
investigations?
Schmidt: If you mean the Warren investigation — they had their own
undercover people. There would be times that we would make
arrests in Berkeley, but on the basis of the attitude of the
people at the time of their arrest, particularly if they were
drunk. We would know almost for sure the outlet for that
alcohol. If it was from a certain named person's place, we
could anticipate fights — a fighting personality; if it came
from another source it would be a person who would pack up and
depart. This was given back and forth so ve would know if there
was an outlet. They made most of their own investigations and
we'd say that we had picked up another person from "Prop" (he
used to be one of the persons who was a bootlegger at that time).
JRH: They were clubs or Just stills?
Schmidt: They were stills and outlets mostly in Emeryville. Some places had
girls with the liquor; some places would have poolrooms with the
liquor; some had dancing and liquor available; some places
wouldn't let anybody in except men and there weren't Just one or
two, there were many.
JRH: So you could sort of guess where the person came from?
Schmidt: Yes, because for instance, there was one place where they used to
spike beer with ether and put heating wands in it. Much like you
get a cup of coffee now and you have a little electrical thing
you put in the cup to heat it. Well, these were big ones they put
in great big containers of beer. Then they had places in Emeryville
that we called "Speakeasies" where you had to know the name of an
individual before you could get in and they had near beer and these
college kids were going down there thinking that they were getting
real beer when in fact it was Just near beer and the psychological
conditioning aspects produced some funny antics with these people
since they thought they were drunk. The investigations were made
by people like Oscar Jansen and when they needed more people with
which to help with the raid on a place, then they'd call on us
(the Berkeley Police Department ) or all they would ask for would be
22
Schmidt: me as the photographer to take the pictures because this was all
that they needed to prove the case.
JRH: Vollmer was big on scientific techniques I guess. Did they use
any other photography techniques?
Schmidt: Not that I know of, other than investigational photography.
JRH: A number of people have mentioned that Vollmer wasn't too much
in favor of Prohibition but he went along with it because it was
the law, but he wasn't sure it was a good law. Do you know
anything about that?
Schmidt: I never heard him express this one way or another. I did not
know Vollmer well enough at that particular time to be in his
house to know whether liquor was being served or whether he had
any himself. I would think that he would try to uphold the law
as well as he could because it was a question of this is the
statute and it's my Job to enforce it. But he wasn't put on the
spot so much here in Berkeley because the people here were busy
working in San Francisco or Oakland or going to college and if
they did anything concerning liquor, in most instances they did
it away from home. Like the difference between an adolescent
and an adult — I would say that an adolescent will do something
within the home environment but when he's an adult he doesn't
do it at home, he does it someplace else.
JRH: There weren't any speakeasies in Berkeley?
Schmidt: I don't think there were any here because if there were they were
knocked over. If you go over the record of prostitution it would
show you wouldn't arrest a prostitute in Berkeley but once every
three or four years. Thirty drunks a month and that was when we
had the highest drunk rate because they were all being reported.
Speakeasies — for heaven's sake — Vollmer had a system where
each police officer would be in charge of his beat and you were
considered the chief of your beat. If you had a case, you had the
responsibility for that case and if somebody else came in and
started to work on it (detectives) you could say "knock it off."
Vollmer would put the responsibility on you with the result that
if you had a man who moved into business, it was up to you in a
few days to find out who he was and where the business was. You
would find out if he left money on the premises. You wouldn't
necessarily have to ask him specifically about these questions,
but on the other hand, during your patrol duties you had to find
out about what time they locked up. There were many times that
you would be able to go to them and say now listen, you're hiding
your money about 12 feet from the cash register. They'd say how
did you know that and it's a simple thing for a person that had
the Berkeley training that when the girl is getting ready to close
up there's a certain cadence, a certain number of steps, and she
gets the money bag and disappears in the back. You can use the
first one as a radii and this is simple.
23
Schmidt: Your criminal element figure this out as well as ve did but
the only thing they didn't know about is using alley cats. An
alley cat is a lot better than a dog. When the cat comes out of
an alley they always stop at the sidewalk where this alley opens
and he'll look both ways and the person that is closest to him,
whether it's two or three blocks away, he'll go in the opposite
direction across the street. The enterprising officer gets on
top of a building at various intervals and looks around and watches
these alley cats. Another thing, if your alley cats are not in
the alley when you go in to scare them out, then there was some
body else there ahead of you to scare them out. Now if you thought
that there was somebody in there and you had a chance to get
another officer to help you, you did Just that.
Vollmer never allowed anybody to be a hero. He had a theory
that if a person is in there he sees two or more officers, he
wants to give up and we don't have to shoot a criminal. Where
if there's Just one person, he takes a chance in getting away.
That's the reason we would march a person down the middle of the
street. People would say you're crazy. Why don't you walk them
down the sidewalk? He may see some brush, bushes or something
else of like nature and think he can escape and I'd have to shoot
and I don't want to. Walking them down the middle of the street
doesn't put them in the position of taking a chance in escaping.
This would be the type of police work that was a part of the
Berkeley Department.
JRH: You've given me a really good impression of most of it. I don't
like to make too many comments because I'm not taping my opinion.
Schmidt: I don't know exactly what you want.
JRH: This is fine.
Schmidt: Now they'd say, was Vollmer responsible for this type of police
work and I don't know the answer to that. At least people who
didn't feel this way weren't working for the Berkeley Police
Department .
JRH: I think I've asked you most of what's on here. There are two
more questions here. Do you know anything about the prosecution
aspect — which courts they prosecuted these raids or anything
like that. Say like on this Chinese gambling — did you bring
them into the Berkeley Jail and were they prosecuted in Berkeley?
Schmidt: Yes. For most of those people the fine was paid by the establish
ment. In other words, they posted bail to be forfeited and never
showed up for trial.
JRH: How many people did you arrest?
2k
Schmidt: One particular night there must have been at least 200. (by a
raiding party of some 30 or *»0 men.)
JRH: In the Chinese place?
Schmidt: Yes. It vas almost a square block. It had a Chinese orchestra,
a stage where they vould hare plays, the typical Chinese altar
where they had stuffed bears and exotic figures and it vas
beautiful. The District Attorney's Office didn't bring too many
of the prostitutes into the Berkeley courts. The District Attorney
vas most concerned vith the alcohol. There were instances vhere
various people vere killed in Oakland and dumped in Qneryville.
Prostitution vas prevalent all over: San Francisco, Oakland, but
not in Alameda or Piedmont. But there again, Piedmont vas about
the same as Berkeley vith the same type of people we had here.
Alameda vas a comparatively clean town.
JRH: Hov did they get clues on these places?
Schmidt: If you see a certain type of person in a certain locality it is
an indication that there's something doing there. For instance,
as I vas on the outside working it ends up in a police system of
thinking as a patrolman. I vas making a number of arrests on
juveniles. Vollmer called me in like he vould any officer and
said, "Huck, what are you doing on these cases? Hov do you find
out about persons responsible for these cases?" I just said,
"Well, this particular case you're talking about I used the 'den
instinct.1" He said, "What do you mean?" I said "Well, if you
have some young wolves, coyotes, dogs or kittens and they're
avay from their ne«t or den and you scare them they return to their
den. Now if you come home and find that your house has been
entered by a young child and you scared him, he'd run home (his
den) and all you'd have to do after you had three or four of those
cases is, they ran this way and that way and you could put an
arrow on the routes and triangulate them and that's vhere it is."
Then you go over there to the records division and check on the
kids vho are living in the area. You go over there and check out
the kids that are eating a lot of candy or other objects related
to the cases.
With this bootlegging business, sometimes the vives vould call in
and talk about their husbands getting the stuff. In nearly every
instance vhen you find a transgressor that the family has been a
victim of him as veil. At least it vas in Berkeley at that time.
In Berkeley those of us vho vere in police vork at that time —
to shov vhat type of people ve had — ve'd have clothes that vere
outgrown by members of our families and you'd go behind a store
and you'd find a kid there some night and you'd think you had a
burglar. You'd ask him vhat he vas doing back there and he'd say
he vas getting stuff for his rabbit and you looked into his sack
and you know rabbits don't eat tomatoes and oranges and that sort
of food and you realized the kid was getting food to eat because
Schmidt: he and his family were hungry. So you had contacts with the
schoolteachers and you found out the number of people in the
kid's family, their ages and that sort of thing. Everybody
did it in the Berkeley Department and I don't know whether they
still do or not but you'd get a box of stuff, i.e. food and
clothing, and you wouldn't go up and knock on the door and say
here it is. You'd put it on the front porch and leave it.
And then there was the Mobilized Women in this town. That's a
place in West Berkeley where I could Just give them a note and
they would outfit a man or child from top to bottom: shoes,
shave, bath, etc. Nothing else was ever said about it. 60
when you have this type of people to work with you have a good
department and good community relations. You have to be a
creature of self-denial because a fireman can say I saved that
person's house from burning down but a policeman can't say I
saved that guy's son from going to San Quentin. Otherwise you
would have undone the good you did.
There's another thing in Berkeley that Vollmer had and that was
what we called a "Night Lodger" — any person could come in and
ask for a night's lodging. He'd be given two clean blankets
and a place to sleep and a shower if he wanted it and shave and
a good ham and egg breakfast in the morning and we'd turn him
loose. It made no difference whether he was a prior burglar
or robber or whatever. He was fingerprinted, but the criminal
element had a respect for Vollmer and his men. The Chief was
a humanitarian.
26
INDEX Willard Schmidt
Abbey, Ronald, 3
Alameda, County of, 16
Albany, City of, 20
Alcoholism, 10-11
Atcherly, Llewellyn, 3
Ball, Dr. Juan Don, 9
Becker, Sheriff Burton F. , 16
Berkeley, City of, 1, 11-12, 13, 22-23, 2U, 25
Police Department, 3, 7, lU, 17, 19, 23
Town Marshal, 1, 13
Jails, 23
California, State of
Adult Authority, 20
Campus theater, 8
Caustigan House, 13
Chernin, Milton, 9
Crypt ography , 1 8
Dean, General William, k
Elks' Club, lU
Elks' magazine, U
Emeryville, City of, 12, 17, 18-19, 21, 2U
Flint, Chester "Chet", 1, 5, 16, 19
Ford Motor Company, 13
Frazer, Bert, U
Friday Crab Club, 9
Friedman Paint Company, 9
"Frisco Billy", 9
Game well Signal System, 11
Glavinovich, John, 20
Glavinovich, Rose, 20
Guerrerra, Louis, 11
Hard, George, 15, 16
Harstad, Officer Norman H. , 16
Helms, Capt. George, 15, l6, 17
Keningson, George, 15, 16
Heinz Pickle Works, 13
Hollerith machine, lU
27
IBM, lU
Jansen, Oscar, 15, l6, 19, 21
Jester, Lloyd, 20
Junior Traffic Patrol, k
Keeler, Leonard, 3
Lee, Capt. Clarence D. , 1, 2-3, 6-7
lie detector, 3
Los Angeles, City of, 20
Maldinado, Feliz, 11
Miller, Mrs. , 5
Mobilized Women, 25
modus operand!, 3, 1*»
Newspapers
Post Inquirer , 20
Oakland Tribune, 20
S.F. Examiner, 20
"Night Lodger", 25
Oakland, City of, 12, lU
Police Department, lU
O'Keefe, Patrick, 13
Olema Club, 15, 18, 19
Parathania, 13
Payne, Eugene, 20
Pidgeon, Ralph, 7
Piper, Harry, 16, 19
Police procedures 1-ff . , 13, 18
Powers Company, lU
Prohibition, lU, 18
Bootlegging , lU
Gambling, 15
Prostitution, 15, 21, 22, 2k
"Prop" , 21
Putah Creek, 6
Richmond, California, 13
Rowell, Dr. Hubert N. , 9
SfcW Food Company, 2
San Francisco, City of, U
San Jose State College, 17
Schmidt , George , 1
Schmidt, Marjorie Lee, 6-7
Soto, Earl, 20
Stanley, Dr. L.L. , 9
Sturdivant, Lydia, 5
28
Taylor , Clarence , 8
Tule Lake, 18
University of California, 13
V-Men , 5
Vollmer, Millicent "Pat", 5, 8
Warren, Earl, 15-16, 17-19, 20, 21
Weir, Charles, 15
Woods, Albert, S.J. , 1
YMCA, Berkeley, 1, lU
University of California Bancroft Library /Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollner Historical Project
Muriel Hunter
AUGUST VOLLMER'S SECRETARY TALKS ABOUT HER BOSS
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Muriel Hunter, born in 1908, served as August Vollaer's secretary
during his early years at the University of California (1932-1936). She
later married Thomas Hunter, one of Vollmer's students, and she and her
husband remained close friends of Vollmer's for many years. She brings
the perspective of a non-police work associate and personal friend to this
series of interviews on August Vollmer.
Interviewer: Jane Howard
Time and
Setting of
the Interview: One interview was conducted with Mrs. Hunter on September lU,
1971, in her Berkeley home. The interview began at around
7:30 p.m. and concluded at about 8:00 p.m.
Editing: The transcript was edited for grammatical and paragraphing
errors by Jane Howard. Mrs. Hunter edited the transcript,
changing a couple of sentences where the tape had not caught
her meaning and correcting several small errors. The changes
were minor.
Narrat ive
Account of
Muriel Hunter Muriel Hunter was born in Berkeley, California, in 1908. She
and the Pro- received three degrees from the University of California: a
gress of the B.A. in languages in 1930, a certificate in Medical Social
Interview: Work in 1936, and a Master's in Social Work in 1957.
Mrs. Hunter worked as Mr. Vollmer 's Secretary from 1932 to
1936. She married Thomas Hunter, one of Vollmer's students,
and remained friendly with Vollmer over the years.
Mrs. Hunter went to work as a medical social worker, and
continues to work in this field.
The interview opens with Mrs. Hunter's recollections of her
work with Mr. Vollmer. She describes Vollmer as an extremely
interesting, kind and attractive man. She discusses his
informality in social settings, which she felt contrasted
with his working manner. Mrs. Hunter feels Vollmer's interest
in Juvenile delinquency was her first stimulus toward a social
work career.
The interview touches on Vollmer's work with the Alameda
County Coordinating Council, establishment of the School of
ii
Muriel Hunter (contd. )
Criminology and Vollmer's survey activities.
In response to a question, Mrs. Hunter recalls that
Vollmer always remained controlled even when angered. She
tries to verbalise the nature of Vollmer's influence on his
close associates and finds it hard to do so. She feels
Vollmer was an inspiring and "very solid" individual.
Mrs. Hunter concludes with comments on Vollmer's second
wife, saying she was very pleasant, although uncomfortable
in social situations, as she herself admitted.
Jane Howard
JRH: You worked with Vollaer from '31 to '35?
HUNTER: '32, I think it was, to '36.
JRH: You, at the time, were in the university yourself?
HUNTER: Part of the time. Mot when I started. I'd already graduated
and largely through the chief I got interested in going on into
social work.
JRH: You'd been at the university in another field?
HUNTER: Yes, I majored in languages. In fact, that's how I got started;
he wanted some translating done. I started with that and then I
walked into his office when I heard that he was going up to the
university, and asked if he could use a secretary.
JRH: You were doing the translating while he was down in the police
department still?
HUNTER: Yes. And he said, "Well, perhaps so. I don't have anything to
say about this; you'll have to make application through the
present administration." Which I did. So I worked as his
secretary. As I say, about ' 31* I went back to graduate school.
JRH: So you worked full time.
HUNTER: For the first two or three years.
JRH: I guess it's most interesting to us, from your point of view,
well, first of all, what kind of man was he to work for?
HUNTER: Wonderful. Kind, patient, understanding, interesting.
JRH: You did mostly typing? Did you do any kind of research for him
or anything?
HUNTER: I worked over some of the manuscripts, some of his student's
papers; they were people he had worked with before that were
preparing for him, he was trying to develop a police science
series.
JRH: Book series, you mean?
HUNTER: Yes. So I worked on the manuscripts for him. A good deal
of my time was spent with students at the university.
JRH: Was that after they had actually started up at the School
of Criminology?
HUNTER: Ho, he was still in the Bureau of Public Administration,
so they would be taking courses for a variety of things.
I can't remember what year it was, but a group major was
developed. My husband was the first graduate. It was a
matter of chosing different subjects from different schools
and different majors. They have had group majors since
then, but that was one of the first.
JRH: Do you remember any anecdotes, what was characteristic about
him or what things stood out most about him to you?
HUNTER: That's hard to say. As I say, he was a very interesting
man, a thinker; he vorked things out. His ideas were
stimulating, and he had this wonderful personality.
JRH: In what way? How would you describe it in terms of?
HUNTER: Well, Just a kindly, honest, fair, real gentleman with a
twinkle in his eye. Very good looking man.
JRH: I get that impression, but people never — I've interviewed
only men, and I guess they don't notice things like that.
HUNTER: Well he was over six feet, fascinating and very erect. Rather
gray. Very handsome.
JRH: Dean Wilson said he tended to dress nicely too.
HUNTER: Well, he did.
JRH: Did he dress formally or sports clothes or suits mostly?
HUNTER: He wore suits mostly and had this sense of how he looked,
something that we don't have today.
JRH: Some people say that he tended to get a little more austere
or a little hard to approach as he got older, that people
would feel a little frightened of him because he was a very,
very solemn, a very serious man. Did you find that or something?
JRH:
HUNTER:
HUNTFR: I don't think the people who really worked with him fairly
regularly would say so. I think that they, the young people
that were interested in him, put him on a pedestal, and
perhaps they would feel that way about him, they admired
him so much. He was certainly admirable, but he was a very
approachable person, although he tended to be a little stiff
in some ways, a little formal if he didn't know people.
You've heard of the V-Men, haven't you?
Yes, a little, from your husband mostly, but...
I can't remember who all was in that, but we used to have
very good times together, quite apart from the work; we'd
go to picnics and parties. It seems he wasn't stiff, formal,
then.
JRH: What kind of things happened; do you remember stories, things
you'd do on those picnics?
HUNTER: I can't remember any particular story.
JRH: Your husband did have a couple of pictures of him sitting
cross-legged at these picnics. Like in a yoga position.
HUNTER: He had a very good sense of humor and he was stiff at times
and other times he wasn't. When he was lecturing he tended
to lecture in a rather formal fashion except when he was telling
a story.
JRH: You later — you've gone into social work now — is that
something you saw at the time? People say he was really
interested in social work.
HUNTER: Yes, he was. It was I think his views on Juvenile delinquency
that got me interested in it in the first place. I went to
social work with that idea in mind. I took everything they
had to offer, of which, most developed, of course, was medicil
social work. Then I got fascinated in medicine and I've been
in medical work every since. So I kind of dropped my previous
interest, what started me off. A different subject. He had
been very interested in the possibilities of health problems
and things of that kind, when a child went wrong. He did
quite a Job; I don't know whether he was the initiator, but
he was extremely active in the early coordinating council here
in Berkeley. He was always fascinated with why these kids go
wrong. His ideal, as you may have heard from some others, was
service. He used to have a little thing on his desk; I don't
know where it originated exactly, a figure with wide spread arms.
I don't know where it originated. It may have been a Grecian
statue; it exemplified service.
JRK:
HUNTER :
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH;
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUKTER :
JRH:
In keeping his office did he tend to be orderly or disorderly
or what kind of hours did be work when you worked for him at
the University?
Fairly regular hours. By and large he was fairly orderly,
although he always had his papers spread around.
Do you remember anything about, you mentioned a coordinating
council, what other community activities was he involved in?
That was before he started at the University — years before.
I don't really know. As I recall when he was at the Univer
sity, I can't remember him doing anything when he was at the
University except maybe once in a while. He'd go out of
town for awhile. I think, as I recall, he was asked to do
consultations in different cities. I don't know what the
occasions were, but I know he was called out of town a lot.
It took about twenty years after when you were working for
him to finally get the criminology curriculum started as a
regular independent department.
I can't say, I don't remember when it became a department.
What I was thinking about was — Was he very active in
working to get a independent department started when you
were working or was he Just — it must have been quite a
process finally establishing a School of Criminology.
He had tried to get several other courses besides his own
started; and I can't remember now Just how far along he
did get, and what snags it ran into.
Do you remember, one thing I haven't got too much from
anyone else, is who his enemies were. It seems a man
who was involved in making changes must have run into some
opposition. People have mentioned that when his ideas
were presented as Chief of the Police Association people
would often think his ideas wouldn't work at first and
then later would become converts. Did you know any people?
We want to collect a rounded picture of the man and most
of what we've heard are good things about him. Do you
know any people he ran in with at school or....?
Oh, I'm sure there were people who disagreed with him.
I've seen him angry, but he never lost his temper.
What would he do when he got angry?
anything?
He didn't yell or
HUNTER :
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
HUNTER:
JRH:
Oh nol he vas very calm. He could be made angry on occasion
and then he'd Just sort of, he Just didn't do anything or say
anything. He thought things out. He vas very rational about
things. No, I don't know of any specific incident or disagree
ment. I don't remember anybody that disagreed with him violently.
What would people who disagreed with his ideas say about his
ideas or him?
Well, they Just disagreed with him. They agreed to disagree.
But he didn't tend to lock horns with people?
He was a very well balanced man.
It sounds like that. We mentioned on our questionnaire, you
didn't think of any particular stories or events that happened
that you would say were typical?
Unfortunately, I can't. I'm sure there are, but I can't remember
anything. It's awfully hard to explain. I think those who were
closest to him and knew him best have an awfully hard time putting
it into words, the influence he had on us.
I guess he had a very curious manner that made it tough to put
into words.
He was really quite inspiring in many ways. He was very sound,
a very solid person and yet he was very (Mrs. Hunter reflected,
found it hard to specify)... I didn't put him on a pedestal, but
I certainly thought he was a remarkable person.
Could you say he influenced you?
you to go on to graduate school.
Well, you said he influenced
Yes, he did. He didn't ever suggest it to me. It was Just
that the areas of interest he opened up for me compelled me
to do this.
What kind of influence, I'm Just kind of skipping from thing to
thing to get some of the things other people haven't said — how
would you describe his wife, what sort of person was she and
what sort of influence she had?
On him?
Yes.
HUNTER: She was a very nice person, quite inhibited in many ways and
knew it. She wanted to be more out-going than she was. She
took good care of him — a very pleasant person, but a little
reserved.
JRH: Quieter than him in a way then?
HUNTER: Oh yes, she was always uncomfortable in social situations and
he was a social bear I She would do them nicely, but as she
said she was too much of an introvert, and she was.
JRH: In a social situation, what kind of person was Vollmer?
HUNTER: Oh, affable, gracious.
JRH: Would he be a leader or... Some people at a party or in a
social situation kind of start things off. Or was he more
reserved than that?
HUNTER: Well, in the party situations I saw him in he was with the
students, there wasn't any need to start things. Just because
he was there was enough for them! I don't know what he'd be
like in other kinds of situations.
That's Just about all I can think of. I don't feel that I do
Justice to him, but I Just really am at a loss.
INDEX — Muriel Hunter
Coordinating Council, 3
Juvenile delinquency, 3
Thiatian statue, 3
University of California at Berkeley
Bureau of Public Administration, 2
School of Criminology, 2, U
V-nen, 3
Vollner, Millicent "Pat", 5-6
Wilson, Orlando W. , 2
University of California Bancroft Library/Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
August Vollner Historical Project
Alfred Parker
VOLI>ffiRlS BIOGRAPHER DISCUSSES HIS SUBJECT
An interview conducted by
Jane Howard Robinson
1972 by The Regents of The University of California
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Alfred Parker was interviewed by Jane Howard as part of the
August Vollmer series. Mr. Parker is a retired Berkeley, California
school teacher who has authored two books on the Berkeley Police Depart
ment and one on August Vollmer. He brings to the interview a wealth of
personal and research knowledge of Vollner and his police department.
Interviewer :
Tine and Setting of
the Interview:
Editing:
Narrative Account
of Mr. Parker and
the Progress of
the Interview:
Jane Howard
A single interview was conducted with Mr. Parker on
September 18, 1971, in his brown shingle Berkeley
Hills home. The interview began at approximately
9:30 a.m. and concluded at 10:30 a.m.
Editing of the transcripts was done by Jane Howard.
Some corrections in punctuation and spelling were
made and some blanks left by the typists were filled.
Paragraphing was done. Mr. Parker edited quite ex
tensively to improve the grammar of the narrative.
Mr. Parker received his M.A. from the University of
California in 1932 where he wrote his thesis under
August Vollmer, on policing state and federal rec
reation areas. He then taught physical education in
the Berkeley school system for 20 years, followed by
19 years of service as a Junior high school counselor.
Mr. Parker has authored materials in both the edu
cation and police fields. In policing, he is author
of Crime Fighter : August Vollmer and co-author with
Mr. Vollmer of two books: Crime and the State Police
and Crime. Crooks and Cops. Mr. Parker has Ju»t
completed The Berkeley Police Story.
Mr. Parker recalls his earliest association with
Mr. Vollmer: Joint preparation of an article on lie
detectors. He then explains that he decided to return
to the University in 1931 for his M.A. where he
worked with Vollmer on Crime and the State Police
and on his master's degree .
Parker continues by discussing Vollmer 's outstanding
intellectual and personal qualities. He also mentions
that Vollmer was a physically Impressive man.
11
Alfred Parker (contd. )
Mr. Parker turns his attention to memories of a trip
to Parker's Catalina Island home. The interview
continues with discussion of Vollmer's life history,
principles and professional influence.
Mr. Parker recalls the physical appearance of
Vollmer's study. He discusses Vollmer's liking for,
and friendliness toward, neighborhood children. He
offers his opinion, as a former physical education
instructor, that Vollmer could have been a superior
athlete if he had the opportunity for training. As
it was, Parker states, his athletic abilities were
outstanding.
Parker describes Vollmer's home briefly, and turns to
a discussion of the police surveys done by Vollmer
and his men. He emphasizes that one of Vollmer's
major goals was removing police work from all political
influence .
The tape continues with a description by Mr. Parker of
Vollmer's role in the preparation of the Wickersham
Report and in instituting reforms in California law
enforcement. Mr. Parker touches on Vollmer's efforts
against the gambling clubs in Bneryville. He closes
with an explanation of how he wrote his book on Vollmer.
Jane Howard
.
Parker: I first met August Vollmer in 1920 and we met each other several times
after that and became good friends. Then in 192U, I thought of writing
a magazine article about Vollmer. I vent to his office and we spent
two or three hours doing the interview. Later, I sold the article to
a magazine in the east.
I remember, when the interview was over, Vollmer picked up eight or
ten magazines and two or three books. I said, "What are you going to
do with those?" "Well" he said, "that's my homework for tonight." He
told me at that time that he never vent to bed before twelve o'clock
and sometimes later. He said he was always studying and had an armful
of books or magazines that he took home.
JRH: What were you writing on?
Parker: The title of the article was "You Can't Fool the Lie Detector."
In 1931, I went back to the University to take courses for my M.A. degree.
I signed for a course with Vollmer on Police Administration. My original
major had been in the Political Science Department. So we worked in
this course and started research to develop a book called "Crime and State
Police" which was published by the University of California Press. Also,
in addition to that I had to write a thesis and Vollmer suggested the
title, "Policing Federal and State Recreation Areas." So, I started
digging up information on that subject and it was accepted as my thesis.
Interestingly, about two or three years later the University Library
called me and wanted to know if they could make duplicate copies of this
thesis, they had so many calls for it. So there are a number of copies
at the University.
Vollmer was a great inspiration to me. Through the years we had many
conferences together in his home and we became real friends and he was,
In my opinion, a genius. I've heard of a lot of definitions of genius:
95Jt hard work and 5/J inspiration, but I would say that he was 100% hard
work and 100% inspiration. I'm sure that he would have been a success in
any field. He lectured later at the Medical School at the University of
California in San Francisco. He studied law and could have passed the
Bar, but he didn't have time. He was too busy. He got all be wanted to
know about law so that it would help him as Chief of Police. He was
really a psychiatrist in a way because of his studies.
Another thing that impressed me about him was his terrific memory. We'd
be talking in his study and he'd mention something and he said, "I know
that there's a certain thing that I want to tell you about.11 He'd go
pick up a book and turn to the page and show you what this author had
said.
Parker: I remember that he left for the Philippines during the Spanish-American
War. His mother gave him a Bible and along irlth a friend of hit they
sat on the deck of the ship (it took a long time to get to the Philippines
in those days) and they read the Bible clear through. He'd quote
passage after passage from that one reading. It vat terrific, the memory
that he had, which certainly was a great advantage.
His personality really Impressed me, he was a big man, over six feet,
broad-shouldered. His clothes — he always wore a uniform when the
members of the Department had inspection day, but otherwise he wore
business suits, usually gray or blue, his necktie neatly up against the
collar. He was a veil groomed man.
JRH: Was he dark haired or fair haired?
Parker: I would say dark haired when he was a young man, then gray and he kept
his hair quite well in later years. His personal characteristics that
attracted people were: he was interested in people, friendly with them,
and he wanted to help people, he had a nice smile. His voice was com
manding, he made a great impression on people when he'd walk into a
room, I noticed that. He really had the type of personality that at
tracted people and they liked him.
JRH: Tou mentioned that he wore business suits. Would most Chiefs of Police
wear business suits or would they wear uniforms?
Parker: Well, I think he started the idea of wearing a business suit because he
found out — when he first started in he wore his uniform more, but as
time went on he found out that he was a business executive and he had
to run this department and he had to meet the public. There were so
many instances where he didn't need to have on a uniform and it was a
practice carried on in the Berkeley Department and I think in a lot of
departments because it's the way that the job of Police Chief has devel
oped all over the country.
Through the years we became friendly, both my wife and I, and also
Vollmer's wife Pat. They were in our home many times for dinner and we
were at their place many times. One of his favorite dishes was bouillabaisa
and he used to wrap a towel around our necks when we were eating to
protect our clothes.
JRH: Did he cook himself?
Parker: Tes, he was a pretty good cook.
I remember my wife's folks owned a home at Catalina Island. In fact,
we still do. We Invited the Vollmers down there and he was there for
several days. One of my best friends at Catalina was Judge Ernest Windle
and he was a great student of criminology and law. Being a Judge, he
needed that information. He was fascinated to have Vollmer for a visit.
The Judge took the two of us in his car down the middle of the Island
and he also took a rifle along and some bullets because there's wild
Parker: hogs on the Island and you're allowed to hunt. So we got down there
and the Judge said, "Veil, Chief, would you like to see if we can
find a wild hog and you can shoot it?" He said, "Oh no, it's much
more interesting to talk about criminology." So he passed that one
up, and the Judge remarked about that for years later. He felt that
was really sonething because in his younger days and later too, I
guess, Vollmer was an expert pistol shot. In fact, he started that in
the Department, having the men practice on a pistol range. He had to
shoot a pistol himself a few times when he was chasing a criminal.
JRH: He was never a patrolman at all, was he?
Parker: Ho, he wasn't.
In 1905, Friend W. Richardson, who owned the Berkeley Daily Gazette
called him in; I think Vollmer was peddling mail then. Richardson
wanted Vollmer to run for town Marshal. He at first laughed at the
idea and his family thought that it was a crazy idea. Several other
people along with Friend Richardson persuaded him to do it. He had
made quite a record in the Spanish American War. He'd gone on one ex
pedition all by himself with somebody running a boat up the river to
locate some of the enemy that they wanted to ferret out. He had to
hide under hay in the boat at times. Anyway, they located the enemy
and they conquered them.
He had this record of bravery behind him; he was well liked in the
town. He was a volunteer fireman and so Richardson finely persuaded
him, and he said that he would run, but he knew he wouldn't be elected.
Well, he was elected by a terrific margin and at the end of two years
they wanted him to run again and he did.
By that time, he got really interested. I suppose that you would say
that when he was a Town Marshal and in his first years as Chief of
Police he was out with the men a lot on patrol, but he was never actually
a patrolman.
Vollmer 's principles, what he stood for, right from the start, even
when he was Town Marshal, was practicing the Golden Rule. He was
determined later that he would try to professionalize the police force
and see that they got all the possible education they could so that
they'd be able to meet all the situations.
His biggest influence, I would say, on policing in the United States,
was all the different "firsts" that he started. For one thing, he in
stalled the first red light, flashing signal in the United States; he
installed centralized record systems, and he organized the first
bicycle patrol, the first motorcycle patrol and the first motorized
police force. He started a radio car, in an old Model T. Ford, so that
they could have contact with their men in the cars. He started the first
Police School in Berkeley, and all of this had its effect nationally,
and of course, in 1922 he was President of the International Association
of Chiefs of Police.
Parker: His influence in Berkeley was great and he was sought for advice by
all kinds of people, for problems other than police problems. He
was one person who was not shunned by the local citizens and in 1931
he received the Wheeler Award. The Benjamin I. Whetler Award is for
being Berkeley's most noted citizen, nationally and internationally.
In Alameda County he was in the Officer's Association of the county.
He was sought for advice by other police chiefs in the county and he
cooperated with them.
He was first called a "boy-Marshal"; then, they started sending re
porters from magazines in the East, and the newspaper syndicates.
When they found out that this fellow really had something, he got a
national reputation; pretty soon there were police chiefs from all
over the United States visiting him and from China and foreign
countries. Every year they would come to visit his department and
talk to him. So he became an influence in police work all over the
world.
In the many conferences that we had in his study, in his home on
Euclid Avenue, I was fascinated with the type of study that he had, the
physical make-up of it. He had a nice fireplace at the end of the
room, and he had a picture of the redwoods above the fireplace and
around one wall he had all kinds of books, hundreds of books, every
thing you could think of! Then he had a big flat-top desk. There was
a piano in there. He was musical. He played a guitar when he was
young and there was one of his old friends, Erma Mazza, who came over
and played the piano and he played the guitar. Off of this study, which
was really in the basement, was another big room and he had shelf
after shelf reaching to the ceiling. He had hundreds of police reports
from all over the world, from every country that you could think of.
When we were talking or doing research on our book, "Crime, Crooks and
Cops" that we wrote together, he'd think of something and he'd go into
this room and he'd pull out a pamphlet and say, "I think I saw that
in such and such a report" — and we'd have the information.
Another thing that interested me was his liking for children. I don't
think I was ever at his study, particularly in the afternoon, when
it was after school hours, there would be a tap, tap, tap on the out
side door. He'd go to the door and there'd be three or four boys,
eight or ten years old and he'd have a round dish and he'd greet them
with a nice Jovial voice and ask them how they were getting along.
He'd pull off the cover of this dish and he'd *ive them some candy and
then he would say "Now, I'm pretty busy today, you come back and we'll
figure out some more puzzles for detective work."
Then one day, there was a tap, tap on the door and they said there's
some boys up the street, some older boys who are throwing rocks and
they're trying to fight with one of our pals. So we went out and the
Chief got in my car and we drove about two blocks up the street.
He talked to these boys and finally persuaded them that that was no
way to do, picking on a little kid and that they were older. He was
very much interested in boys and girls and I remember that after I'd
Parker:
JRH:
Parker:
•TRH:
Parker:
JRH:
Parker:
published a biograohy of Vollmer, after he died, it was published by
MacMillan in Ip6l, I rot letters from several men and women who had been
boys and girls back in the days when Vollmer lived on Euclid. The
letters told how much they thought of him, and they called him "Uncle
Gus." He was an inspiration in their life.
He was also a great gardener, he did a lot of p^urdening around the
house, he loved birds, he had several places where he fed the birds and
he had bird baths there. Another thing that I remember about Vollmer
is the fact that he really was a great athlete.
That's something. You're the only one who's talked about that.
He didn't have the opportunity at the time that he grew up to go to
the university, he couldn't go to high school or anything like that,
but he learned wrestling, he learned boxing, and he would win all kinds
of foot races back in those days, and he learned how to swim. I can
remember when we were down at Catalina, we went swimming, and he swam
a beautiful Australian Crawl stroke, a powerful stroke. Powerful
legs and oowerful arms and he really could plow through the water.
I'm sure that had he gone to a university he could have been a fine
football player, basketball, baseball — anything you'd wish, because
he was a natural athelete. All of which I think didn't do him any
harm in being a leader of men and they respected him for his physical
ability.
I got the impression from other people that he didn't have much time
to en«rage in sports or anything.
No, he really didn't because you see he lived in New Orleans and
his father . . . Well, before his father died, Vollmer was a little
kid about eight or ten, he came home and he was all beat up and he had
a black-eye and a bloody nose.
Yes.
His father looked at him and he told him what had happened and so he
said "Ckay, we're going to fix this." So he took him down to a pym
instructor and said, "I want you to teach him boxing and wrestling"
and he told him "Now August, I don't want you when you've learned
all this to go out and pick a fight with anybody. But when you get
Jumped on, you're going to defend yourself" and he certainly did from
then on.
After Vollmer' s father died, Mrs. Vollmer moved to San Francisco and
August went two years to a business school and that was all of his
formal education. Then they moved over to Berkeley and he got a job,
I think in a fuel yard; fuel, coal and wood yard. When the Spanish-
American War came along, he enlisted and when he came back he was a
mailman for a while and so he didn't really have any opportunity to
engage in sports as we know sports.
JRH:
When you knew him, did he work out at all?
gym or do things like that?
Did he come down to your
Parker: No, he didn't do too much of that, although he did a lot of physical
vork around the yard. He kept himself in good trim though, did a
lot of walking. I remember him telling me that in the early days when
they were hunting a criminal, he would act as a detective. He said,
he was awfully busy and he would eat a big breakfast; he would eat two
or three or four pancakes, five or six eggs and milk and coffee and bacon.
It Just sounded like an enormous breakfast. But he had no lunch, he
never ate a lunch as he was on the go a lot.
JRH: You described his study, I think. It made me curious about what the
rest of his home was like. Could you give me an idea?
Parker: Well, they had a nice home. Modern furniture and Pat, his wife, was
meticulous housekeeper and she kept the place clean. The study was down
in the basement and the rooms were upstairs . It was a modern type
home, well decorated, modern furniture. She was particular about it,
keeping everything clean. She used to tell me that at the time that
Gus was making so many of these surveys, which you probably already have
noted, she got to the point where she never unpacked her suitcase
because she didn't know when they were going some place and he liked to
have her along and so she said she Just kept one suitcase packed and
all ready to go. Have you got anything about the surveys?
JRH: Yes, some that I have listed of where he went are Los Angeles, and San
Diego.
Parker: It's an interesting thing to me, that as these different police chiefs
came to talk to him, they realized, many of them, that there was something
wrong with their departments and they wanted him to make recommendations
and that's how the surveys really started. The first survey that he made
was in San Diego and when he went there they didn't even know he was
in town. He'd prowl around, get the picture of the place and then start
studying the department. You have a list of the surveys?
JRH: Let me see, I think I do. It's published in your book. They'll be using
them in conjunction with the other things, your books and things like
that.
Parker: Well, these surveys that he made, it got to the point that there were
so many places that wanted him that he couldn't go to all of these
places, so he'd select one of his captains and ask him if he would go
and make a survey and that's what happened and the result was that his
influence was all over the world.
Now, one fact that has been misunderstood by some people. They thought
that when he went to Los Angeles in 1923, he had left the Berkeley
Police Department and gone to Los Angeles to bicome their permanent
chief of police. That was not so. He became their chief of police,
that was correct, but he agreed that he would go there only for one
year and he did. He went there for one year, he studied the situation,
he wrote a five or six hundred page report and a recommendation on
what should be done in the Los Angeles Police Department. After he left
the next chief of police, I can't remember his name, put the report on
a shelf and it began to gather dust. They didn't do anything about it.
Parker: Then, a later chief of police came alonp and he pulled that report
down and he put into practice practically everything that he
recommended. Many an officer in the Berkeley Police Department has
been proud of the fact that L.A. has one of the finest police departments
in the world. They carried out everything that Vollmer had suggested
and really made a great department out of it, but at first they Just
shoved the report aside, which is what happens sometimes.
«TRH: I was p.ointr, to ask you one of the things that you said when Gene Carte
and I came originally, that Vollmer always fought politics. He had
an awful lot of influence, I don't know whether or not you'd call it
political, but he created a lot of change in the way policing was done.
What do you mean?
Parker: Well, the thing that he was particularly opposed to was the fact that
you can't select a police force or a chief of police, by political
influence. He goes on to show in the many of his surveys or talks that
many of the police chiefs around the country were selected because the
man was a good barber or a good tailor or a good groceryman or a good
something else; he was Just a political follower and one who was up in
Politics and so he was made a chief of police. That was what he was
opposed to and, of course, he was in favor of high training and ex
perience for police chiefs and for all police. That's what Vollmer
meant, you can't mix politics with police work. Another thing Vollmer
would not permit was police taking bribes. His policemen were never
permitted to take a present. Do you know anything about the report on
police that he wrote?
JRH: No, I don't know anything about that.
Parker: Well, there was a national commission on law observance and enforcement
established by Herbert Hoover and George W. Wickersham was the chair
man. They went into many phases of the crime problems that were in
1931. The pamphlet is titled: Report On Police. Quite a bit of infor
mation in this pamphlet is evidence of the fact that Vollmer had a
national influence as well as local. For instance, on page M he
listed the chiefs of police of the city of Chicago and shows how many
police chiefs they had from the beginning. Sometimes they wouldn't
be in office more than two or three years and they'd appoint another one.
They were all political appointments.
His influence in the state of California was great too. In 1915 he
assisted in preparing a bill for creation of a psychiatric clinic in
San Quentin and that bill was passed. He was also influential in the
state police officers 'association. Again, men from all over the state
came to him for advise. He was thoroughly sold on police work and
trying to elevate police into a real profession and, to me, his whole
life was an example of the fact that if you really get wrapped up
in something and you're thinking about it a lot you can't help but
be successful.
JRH: I was going to ask you not so much about the state, but you mentioned
before there had been problems with gambling before he was elected
Town Marshal.
8
Parker: That's right, there were a lot of lotteries and crooks, and that's one
of the reasons why they wanted a fellow like Vollmer who was a brave
man to clean up these gambling dens.
JRH: Was this aa early as 1910?
Parker: Ho, 1905. This was when he was first elected marshal.
JRH: I'd heard about in the 30's but not ....
Parker: No, this was 1905. This was one of his first Jobs and gamblers tried
to offer him big bribes. He wouldn't have anything to do with them and
he went in personally himself, leading his men into these gambling places,
In fact, they had to go from a roof through a window into the building
on a plank on a cold foggy dark night to get into one gambling place,
and they arrested everybody in the place. However, the gamblers had
gotten rid of a lot of the evidence. That was one of the early facts
that Vollmer learned. You've got to have evidence if you're going to
really convict someone.
Vollmer had all kinds of friends, I think the reason that he did was
genuine interest in people. He was a good listener and when he was
asked for advice and he gave it, it was good sound advice. He was well
liked.
JRH: One thing you mentioned before, when a number of people were in your
gym classes they later went on into police work. Do you remember some
of the people who did that?
Parker: When I started working on my latest book which is entitled "The Berk
eley Police Story", in 1967, I went down into the police department.
I had thought of the idea of writing a complete story of the Berkeley
police from 1905 to the present time. So I went into see William Beall,
the police chief, who was a former memeber of one of my gym classes at
Berkeley High School. He was tickled to death. He said, "Al, this is
exactly what we want and I'll cooperate with you in any way that I
can to get the information". So he appointed Sgt. Merritt Thomas,
my liaison officer and he introduced me to all the different captains
and took me down to the basement and showed me the old files. They
assigned me a desk and I went to work and I worked for three and a half
years researching and writing this book. So I had a lot of cooperation.
Captain Richard Young, who at the time that I started working on the
book was the Captain of the Service Division, was a former member of my
gym class at Berkeley High. I can't think of any others riptit now.
JRH: Those are all the questions I have, I guess you've gotten to the end of
your outline.
Parker: Yes, I believe so.
INDEX — Alfred Parker
Alameda County Officers Association, U
athletics, 5
Beall, William, 8
Berkeley, City of
Police Department, 6, 7
tovn marshal, 3, i, 7, 8
Berkeley Daily Gazette. 3
Berkeley Police Story. The, 8
Chicago police chiefs, 7
Catalina Island, 2, 5
Crime and State Police, 1
Crime. Crooks and Cops, k
gambling, 8
"Golden Rule", 3
Hoover, Herbert, 7
Los Angeles Police Department, 6-7
Los Angeles police survey, 6
MacMillan Company, 5
Mazza, Erma, k
Philippines, The, 2
police procedures, 3, 7, 8
Policing Federal and State Recreation Areas. 1
Report on Police. 7
Richardson, Friend W. , 3
San Diego police survey, 6
San Quentin psychiatric clinic, 7
Spanish-American War, 2, 3, 5
Thomas, Merritt, 8
University of California at Berkeley, 1
Police Administration, 1
Political Science Department, 1
University of California Medical School, San Francisco, 1
10
University of California Press, 1
Vollmer, Millicent "Pat", 2, 6
Windle, Ernest. 2
Wheeler Award (Benjamin Ide), U
Wickersham, George W. , 7
You Can't Fool The Lie Detector. 1
Young, Richard, 8
APPENDIX A
SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR AUGUST VOLLMER HISTORICAL PROJECT INTERVIEWS
1. What was your personal relation to Vollmer?
How did you get to know him?
In what capacities did you work with or see him?
What impact did he have on your life, both your
personal life and your professional development?
2. What kind of a man was Vollmer?
How did he impress you — what did he look like, sound like,
etc.?
How do you think he impressed others?
What personal characteristics do you think he had that made
him an influential man?
3. What anecdotes and stories do you recall from your own contacts or
others' stories that give a particularly good idea of the kind of
man Vollmer was?
U. How did Vollmer relate to the people he dealt with on a frequent
and close basis?
To friends?
To employees?
To professional colleagues?
5. In what ways was Vollmer influential in the community?
In Berkeley?
In Alaneda County?
6. In what ways was Vollmer influential in and involved in events in
the state?
7. What was Vollmer 's professional impact?
What were the major ideas and principles that
Vollmftr stood for?
What were the major influences Vollmer had on policing,
education, and training? On other areas?
8. Are there other people that had a significant relationship with
Voll»er that you think would be available for an interview as
part of this project?
APPENDIX B
SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR AUGUST VOLLMER HISTORICAL PROJECT IHTERVIEWS
1. What was your personal relation to Vollmer?
How did you get to know him?
In what capacities did you work with or see him?
What impact did he have on your life, both your
personal life and your professional development?
2. What kind of a man was Vollmer?
How did he impress you — what did he look like, sound
like, etc.?
How do you think he impressed others?
What personal characteristics do you think he had that
made him an influential man?
3. What anecdotes and stories do you recall from your own contacts or
others' stories that give a particularly good idea of the kind of
man Vollraer was?
i*. What was Vollmer1 s professional impact?
What were the major ideas and principles that Vollner
stood for?
What were the major influences Vollmer had on policing,
education, and training? On other areas?
5. In what ways was Vollmer influential in and involved in events
in the state?
6. In what ways was Vollmer influential in the community?
In Berkeley?
In Alameda County?
7. How did Vollmer relate to the people he dealt with on a frequent and
close basis?
8. Are there other people that had a significant relationship with Vollmer
that you think would be available for an interview as part of this
project?
APPENDIX C
August Vollmer Historical Project Interview Participants
DATE
1. I— June 29, 1971
II— June 30, 1971
2. July 2, 1971
3. July 6, 1971
U. July 8, 1971
5. July 15, 1971
6. July 23, 1971
7. August 9, 1971
8. August 9, 1971
9. August 9, 1971
10. August 27, 1971
11. September ifc, 1971
12. September 18, 1971
SUBJECT
John Holstrom
O.W. Wilson
Milton Chemin
General William Dean
Rose Glavinovich
Gene Woods
Al Co f fey
George Brereton
Thomas Hunter
Willard Schmidt
Muriel Hunter
Alfred Parker
JANE HOWARD ROBINSON
Born: October 27, 19*»3
Raised: Washington, D.C.
EDUCATION :
B.A. , Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, June 1965, English major
M.S.W., University of California, Berkeley
Social work administration and community organization major
Postmaster's internship in the University of California Professional
Schools Program in India, June 1968-March 1969-
Nine month postmaster's program with selected representatives
from each of the University of California's professional
schools. Internship combining field work at the Delhi School
of Social Work and academic courses on the culture, government,
economic development , and history of India.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
January to June 1966: Administrative assistant in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Economic Opportunity Program.
September 1969-March 1971: Organization for Business, Economic and
Community Advancement, Inc., 291»0-l6th St., San Francisco. Project
coordinator for a Department of Labor-funded program developing new
health careers in San Francisco hospitals and social service agencies,
and training Mission District residents for these careers. Duties
included trainee counselling and evaluation, proposal writing, and
placement development and evaluation.
September 1971-Present : Supplementary Training Associates, 2801 San Pablo
Avenue, Berkeley. Regional representative supervising 9 Headstart
and Followthrough Supplementary Training Programs, Office of Education
and Office of Child Development-funded projects through which Headstart
and Followthrough staff can work toward college degrees. Responsibilities
for these nine programs (which serve an average of 100 staff members),
include negotiating subcontracts with universities, training and
technical assistance to HS staffs in using the program, monitoring
and evaluation of the programs, and assisting the universities in
developing new and innovative program proposals.
PUBLICATIONS:
"Indian Society, Indian Social Work: Identifying Indian Principles and Methods
for Social Work Practice," under maiden name, Jane Howard, International
Social Work, Volume XIV, No. U, 1971.
Jane Hovard Robinson
Resume
PUBLICATIONS (contd. )
"August Vollner: Pioneer in Police Professionalism," a series of 12 inter
views with police and university personnel, on the life and career of
August Vollmer, Chief, Berkeley Police Department, 1905-1932, and founder
of the University of California's School of Criminology. To be published
Fall 1972, by the University of California, Regional Oral History Office
of the Bancroft Library.
ACADEMIC HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
University of California Professional Schools Program representative from
the School of Social Welfare, September 1968-March 1969.
Ford Foundation fellowship for living expenses in India.
NDEA language study fellowship for Hindi -Urdu, Summer 1966.
University of California, School of Social Welfare, 1967-8.
Ford Foundation fellowship for students interested in
careers in international development.
MEMBERSHIPS:
National Association of Social Workers
Life Member, Delhi School of Social Work Society
REFERENCES:
Undergraduate: Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
Graduate: University of California, School of Social Welfare, Berkeley
Professional: Masato Inaba or Leandro Soto, OBECA/Arriba Juntos, 291»0-l6th St.,
Room 10U, San Francisco, Calif.
The research for this study was made possible by a
fellowship from the National Institute of Law Enforcement
and Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration, during the years 1969 - 1971. The
writer acknowledges with gratitude the support and
encouragement he has received from the Institute.
-i-
.
-ii-
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
The Professional Police Model 1
Professionalism in a Criminal Justice
Context - 4
Policing's First Professional — - --9
Design of the Paper --. 12
Future Research Goals 15
CHAPTER ONE: POLICING IN THE EARLY
20TH CENTURY - IT
The Evolution of the Municipal Police
Function -18
American versus Foreign Police Models- 23
The Movement for Government Reform- -33
The Effect of Civil Service Reform- 35
Trade Unionism and the Boston Police Strike-- 38
Summary ...45
The California Setting 46
CHAPTER TWO: VOLLMER DEVELOPS THE
BERKELEY POLICE DEPARTMENT 50
1905: The Berkeley Campaign for Marshal 50
Vollmer's Background 55
Early Years of Innovation -57
Personnel Reform -67
"College Cops" - -72
Berkeley as a Training Ground for Police
Leaders 78
Community Involvement and Press Relations -- 84
Association with Earl Warren 89
The Quality of Berkeley Policing under
Vollmer- -91
CHAPTER THREE: VOLLMER AS AN ACTIVE
POLICE LEADER - 97
Professional Efforts in California 97
National Efforts toward Police Centralization- 102
A Spokesman for Police Professionalism ---- 106
-iii-
The Year in Los Angeles 112
Vollmer's Work as a Police Consultant-- 119
The Wickersham Report 124
The Years as a Research Professor and
Writer - 129
CHAPTER FOUR: A CRITICAL LOOK AT
VOLLMER'S MODEL OF POLICE
PROFESSIONALISM 440
Definition of Vollmer's Police Profession
alism -141
Changes in Police Priorities 143
Major Crimes . 150'
Vice Law Enforcement 156
Traffic Regulation- 165
General Service 168
Personnel- 172
Vollmer's View of Policing in a Changing
Society 176
Limitations of Vollmer's Professional
Policing 179
Summary 189
CHAPTER FIVE: THE CHANGING CLIMATE OF
POLICE REFORM- 197
Civic and Moral Reformers 198
Public Support for Police Professionalism- 207
Police Professionalism: The Changing
Historical Mandate 214
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS 219
Some Positive Aspects of Professionalism--- 221
Detachment versus Participation 224
Centralization versus Home Rule- 228
The Crime Fighter versus the Miscellaneous
Public Functionary 232
•
APPENDIX A 246
"Chronology of the Career of August
Vollmer"
-iv-
APPENDIX B 250
Bibliography
APPENDIX C 259
i
"Changes in Public Attitudes toward the
Police: A Comparison of Surveys Dated •
1938 and 1971" by Gene E. Carte
'
\
^
V
AUGUST VOLLMER AND THE ORIGINS OF POLICE
PROFESSIONALISM
Abstract
Gene E. Carte, School of Criminology
This paper explores the roots of professionalism
as a model for American municipal policing by focusing
<
upon the career of August Vollmer, who served as police
•
chief of Berkeley, California, from 1905 to 1932. By the
1920s Vollmer was established as the foremost American
police spokesman, and was a strong advocate of the appli
cation of the professional model to policing.
!
Two perspectives are employed for the study: an
intensive examination of the actual work and ideas of Vollmer,
as evidenced in the Berkeley department and in his national
• •
.*•
role as an educator, police consultant, and writer; and an
examination of the historical setting within which profession
alism was developed. Materials used for the examination of
•
Vollmer 's career include oral interviews with his former
colleagues and associates; personal papers and correspondence;
and published sources. The analysis of the historical setting
*- •
draws upon literature in sociology and policing dealing with
American municipal government and criminal justice from the
.
last quarter of the nineteenth century through the 1930s.
The study contends that police professionalism arose
in response to several definite historical trends: 1) the
«•
ambivalent pressures placed on policing by moral an<* civic
reformers, corrupt municipal officials, and heterogeneous
urban populations; 2) the closing of trade unionism as a
method for the redress of police grievances following the
suppression of the Boston Police Strike in 1919; 3) and the
failure of civil service reform to meet the basic police
problems of insecure tenure, political influence, and incom
petence.
• r
It is the further contention of the study that Vollmer's
model of police professionalism contained within it serious
contradictions. The most fundamental of these was the con
flict between the detached stance of the professional and the
/• '
.^if continuing need for policing to adjust to social flux within the
community. A correlative conflict was the incompatibility
•
of the crime -fighting priority with the actual role of the
policeman as a miscellaneous government functionary.
•
The professional model in application is studied through
a detailed examination of Vollmer's work in Berkeley, where
he introduced many technological and managerial innovations
that established him as a progressive police leader. Among
these were the use of mobile patrol, recall systems, beat
analysis, modus operandi, scientific detection methods,
.
and centralized crime records. Personnel standards were
*•
upgraded through intelligence and psychological testing,
formal training schools, and the recruitment of college*
educated patrolmen. The Berkeley department became a
4
training ground for policemen who joined other departments
at the leadership level or entered careers as educators 'and
•
writers on professional policing. The effect of Vollmer's
personality and leadership skills upon the Berkeley depart
ment is explored.
• *
Modifications of the Berkeley model are examined
as Vollmer applied it during his term as police chief in
Los Angeles (1923-24) and adapted it in his writings as a
consultant to other urban police departments and as an
^ advocate of centralization in nearly all aspects of policing.
The paper concludes that Vollmer constructed an
effective and personal style of policing in Berkeley which was
• .
necessarily altered to meet the requirements of heterogeneous
urban areas. The professional model contributed to the
creation of an ideology that reinforced insularity and increased
dependence upon technology and scientific management to
solve police problems. Present public expectations do not
justify the continuance of a model that is founded upon
detachment from social change and the preselection of
priorities and police goals.
••'•
--.
•
Chairman
Jerome H. Skolnick
Professor
• K-
••
13 4594
C. BERKELEY L.BF
